Borrego Springs, CA

These lovely horses greeted us as we drove into town.

Our main focus when we decided to make a side trip to Borrego Springs was to visit our cruising friends, John & Rosie of M/V Serena Ray. They sold their boat, sold their house in rainy Washington and purchased a lovely home in Borrego Springs, CA this summer. It wasn’t far off our intended track from San Diego to Tucson so we decided to make the little detour to see our friends and some new territory.

The beautiful mountains surrounding Borrego Springs.

What a nice surprise. 

The road through the mountains is very narrow and winding but after riding 12,000+ miles with Chris I have decided to stop worrying about how close we are to the edge and just enjoy the scenery. And beautiful the scenery is here. 

Scorpion and Grasshopper facing off.

I am really not much of a “desert person” but there is something really, really pretty about this area of south central California. 

Borrego Springs is a very small settlement in the middle of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park that was, quite clearly, a big seabed a bazillion years ago. The mountains surrounding it are truly spectacular and it is California’s first Dark Sky Community which means the community has very few lights. It is a prime spot to view the night sky. This seems to be a prime location for hikers and bicyclers and, based on the number of golf courses and out of state license plates I’d guess it is a major snowbird destination. According to Rosie, most of the residents leave during the summer since the temperatures can exceed 120°. Makes perfect sense to me…especially since that is exactly why we don’t spend summers in Mexico!

Chris enjoying a cold beer. The temperature was a perfect 80-ish.

We stayed at one of the nicest RV parks we have been in to date – complete with golf course, pool and mineral spring hot tub. 

Golf course at the end of our row.

The park is beautifully laid out with almost all pull through sites and the utilities perfectly situated. The only thing we would improve on is the spaces are crushed gravel and, while they are neat, level and attractive, Abby would have appreciated a spot of grass.

Our one day stay was full to the brim. We met our friend, Rosie, in town first thing in the morning and she loaned us a map of the Ricardo Breceda statuary that is scattered throughout the desert and a book about the artist & his work. 

Chris admiring the 4-tusked elephants!

Many of these impressive metal sculptures are depictions of animals that currently exist (horses, peccary, scorpion, etc.) but others are critters that are now extinct such as

Veloceraptors in the desert!

 dinosaurs, giant sloths, etc. many of which left their bones behind in this area. 

Giant Sloths...mother & baby.

Some are mythical like the 350' Sea Serpent...or is it?

Sea Serpent

We drove from sculpture to sculpture admiring the work and taking lots of photos.

My favorite was the bird on the nest. This was the largest flight-capable bird in North America. It stood 4 ft. tall and had a wingspan of 16-17 ft. 3 of the 6 fossils found of this guy were found in Anza-Borrego with the oldest dating back 3.5 million years ago. FYI, it was a predator! 

Our next stop was the Anzo-Borrego Store to purchase a copy of the book Rosie had loaned us as well as a few other little trinkets. 

That evening we drove out to John & Rosie’s for a wonderful dinner prepared by Chef John and a few hours of wine and conversation. It was great to see them again. One of the best things about the cruising life is the wonderful friendships that are made with likeminded adventurers. 

The next morning we were off to Tucson but we loved Borrego Springs and plan to return another time for a lengthier stay.