road trip: anti-spa weekend
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road trip: anti-spa weekend
nothing out there and nothing out there
It had to be gritty, we decided. Grungy. No more than a 5-hour drive. Not your typical girls’ weekend. Blythe, Needles, Indio. All nixed for…Borrego Springs?
A place I’d never heard of until Cindy suggested it. Tucked behind Palm Springs like an afterthought. Another desert ghost town desperately trying to capture that mid-mod vibe—more vintage boutiques than people.
A place where life-size rusted metal sculptures of pterodactyls inhabit shadeless sand dunes, radiating the heat of a million years. Motels with ashtrays outside “Fitness Rooms” and cow skulls hung on dark-panelled bedroom walls.
A place, detached and timeless, where we reconnected.
Yup, I camped with some friends at Joshua Tree a week before the pandemic and lockdown hit and we had a blast exploring the funkiness that is Twenty-nine palms.
Wow, Anza-Borrego looks really cool. I had to map it out. Have you been up to Twentynine Palms? It is one of those places lots of people hate because it is basically dead-zone desert nothing, but there are SO MANY cool mid-century modern house rentals there. Desert dream. Otherworldly.