Borrego Springs fancied itself as the second coming of Palm Springs but something happened on the way to riches- a distinct lack of water for those necessary golf courses and pools. The good thing for those who go beyond the lure and comfort of Palm Springs is that the village of Borrego Springs is uniquely surrounded and protected by the amazing 600,000 acre Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The nearest stoplight is fifty miles away and Borrego is California's first Dark Sky Community (there are no significant street lights and bright lights of all types are regulated). Great for stargazing.

There's no question that the Desert Park is the area highlight but the first things to catch your eye are the many metal sculptures that dot the landscape. The menagerie (140 figures in all, including modern-day and mythical creatures) makes for a great multi-day scavenger hunt and the good news for Bonnie D is that I have photos of most of them. The larger than life-size metal sculptures depict critters that once roamed the Anza-Borrego Desert as far back as 6.5 million years ago. Gomphotheres (four tusked, elephant-like creatures), giant tortoises, camelops (early camels), a giant ground sloth, and the "incredible Bird God of the Winds," are just some of the key finds.   The creator of this odd and spectacular outdoor art gallery is an accidental artist- his talent grew out a construction job accident that changed his life. One of the few jobs he could handle afterwards was selling exotic boots and he once traded a pair of boots for a welding machine- a request from his seven-year-old daughter to make a life-size dinosaur and the rest is history. I’m not sure why this doesn’t get the greater attention it rightly deserves (after all rotting meat on a stick made into the National Art Gallery of Canada)?

If the Desert is the area highlight, our own personal highlight within the desert was a close encounter with Peninsular Bighorn Sheep during one of our many day hikes. Only 280 of this subspecies remain in the United States- 200 find refuge in the park and it seemed like we saw most of them on the way to a desert oasis. The hikes also demonstrated why we were in such desperate need of a gym.

We did spend enough time in the fitness center to cause significant pain and soreness but not much buffing or weight loss. DH has a passion for tennis and she even got us involved in a one day Borrego Springs Pro-Am tennis camp intended for intermediate players ('beginner’ doesn’t quite describe our skill set since we play a unique racket sport where DH hits the ball all over the place and, after making me run, I have to hit it back to her within a defined tight radius so the Princess doesn’t have to move too far). We did pick up a few pointers from actual tennis players although the instructors kept referring to my ‘ready’ stance as "gorilla" or “caveman” which seemed a bit harsh.

Just when we were getting settled in, our vacation-from-our-vacation was over and we were packing up a well-rested Billy Thunder and pointing him north.