Once again it's Sunday--a day that we get a half day free with daddy! That either means relax and do house things or go on a quick adventure nearby. We chose to do option #2 of course! Sorry for the long blog....so interesting that we took lots of pics!
We'd heard about these places, but really didn't do much research before just heading out. Turned out that 3 out of the 4 places were within a few hundred yards from each other--WIN for us!
Salvation Mountain
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| View from the road |
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| Close-up view. I actually liked that paint run-off from the recent rains! |
A man literally created this mountain out of trash. He would take something then cover it up with a mixture of hay, cement, mud, etc. to create the "mountain". Then he dumped paint on it--obviously a lot since the hay mixture sucks up a lot and created what we saw. He had a religious "moment" when he decided to do this, and everything that is written in paint is a Bible verse or something inspirational because he simply wanted people to know that "God is Love".
The boys were NOT happy that they couldn't climb all over everything. Blame daddy for telling them we were doing an adventure like our rock climbing one last time. Note to self: make sure words are chosen wisely next time!
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| Arch spelled LOVE. Tunnel was off limits, but it was SO tempting because you could see old windows and we all really wanted to go inside and look out! |
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| Another off-limits area....no fun for kids (and their parents)! |
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Several automobiles were on the site as well.
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Slab City
Let me start off by saying that I need to do a bit more research on this, but I wanted to get the blog typed out before I forgot everything!
Driving into the Salvation Mountain area, we were met with a "Last Free Place" sign. Jeff told me it was the last place that people can just camp out/live for free---but without electricity, running water, etc. It was amazing to see that this was an option that someone wanted to choose--but who was I to judge? We just moved from a 4000 square foot home to a travel trailer! I do continue to wonder how they have/get money to buy what they need, take a bath, wash clothes, etc.---they are an oddity in our society so we tried to talk to the boys about it all while we were driving through.
Slab City had labeled roads, a Christian Club, a music club called "The Range", several specific neighborhoods, and a few artistic pieces such as "Shoe Tree" that we thought were cool. I didn't take a lot of pictures because I didn't want to offend anyone by staring AND taking a pic of their home (trailer, car, tent, hut, etc.)
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| Should've zoomed in before I added it to the blog...Shoe Tree |
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| Almost Art Car Parade ready---just waitin' on some wheels! |
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| Coffee and a little bit of cannabis anyone??? |
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| Slab City art |
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| The Range |
East Jesus
No clue how this place got its name, but it was my favorite of the day! I briefly read that it was a place where people create art from junk, and that's exactly what it was. The boys loved this place--especially the art pieces they could interact with (stacking CO2 cartridges), get onto (a handmade boat or a thing made out of computer parts that would spin around), or just run up and touch. There was a bowling lane, a playground (Every Mother's Nightmare Playground is what they called it...with good reason!--a cheese grader "slide", a rusted out swing set, and a 10 foot high seesaw!). I kind of related this to the Children's Museum since the boys had a blast interacting with these things and just looking at everything.
B was only interested in the things he could interact with. Riley on the other hand, enjoyed touching, looking, inspecting, etc! I love that this place worked for both of my children--the energetic and the curious!
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| Every Mother's Nightmare Playground section--cheese grater slide--YIKES! |
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| Tower....of something! |
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| Wish I got a better pic. This is a wall of old TVs--reminded me of the corner of Main St in Cuero that used to have old TVs just stacked there for no reason! |
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| Such an excited, curious explorer! |
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| Bowling Lane |
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| I think he's actually checking himself out in the mirror! |
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| Hanging with a computer parts dinosaur |
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| Working on his typing skills |
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| He was so funny here---just touching, telling me if they were missing body parts, etc. |
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| Stacking CO2 cartridges |
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| Fun ride??? |
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| Interesting silver fondue set? Never know when it will come in handy! |
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| Snowmobile time in the desert! |
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Captain, oh captains!
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Salton Sea
All we knew about this place was that it was often stinky, had dead fish at times, was somehow toxic (why did we go again???), and was CA's largest lake. We found a random road leading us to a spot, so we didn't really hit a specific area like we could have. It was perfect though because it gave the boys a chance to run, climb on sand/mud dunes, etc.
I'd describe it as mucky and stinky. It smelled like dead fish, salt, and bird poop. Once you realized what you were smelling...you looked down. And that's when you realized you were walking on fish scales. Not just a few---but about a gazillion of them! Either that or barnacle type shells. And then dodging dead fish (well, really just their heads!) And then the smell hits you again! We really didn't get the "pretty" aspect of the Salton Sea, so I guess we'll have to go back again to see if it's the same!
A storm was coming in, so we didn't stay here long. Long enough for a few pics and to talk to some people camping out there from Canada (for 9 days...in this smelly place...no words).
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| Family Selfie! |
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| Room to run! |
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| Dear God, the smell! |
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| Dear God, my children are touching some of this?!?! |
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| Dead fish...no words |
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| Walking on fish scales |
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| Or Walking on barnacle shells |
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More dead fish
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As a friend described it, we hit all of the weird spots in one day! So true! That's what our adventure is about though--showing the boys all parts of the U.S. We love that El Centro is so close to so many small things and we can do these trips in just a few short hours. We may not live in the place everyone wants to be in, but we are certainly making the most of it and having fun as a family. If we can continue to grow as a family like we are and continue to provide a sense of fun and security for the boys, then we're happy!
Til the next adventure...
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