Zzyzx Road Oasis

Surprise!! Yep, it's Saturday and you're getting an extra special treat in your in-box today. Let me tell you why...

I LOVE ROAD TRIPS!! Way back in the day, when my kids were little, I would plan the most elaborate trips filled with aquariums and museums and parks and all the fun stuff. And the entire time they would ask when we were getting to the hotel so they could get into the pool. (They still prefer a pool but tolerate my stops on the way.) Fast forward a few years to when I met a guy who liked to drive to places but always focused on the destination. I mean, he didn't even know what a rest stop was! (Rolling my eyes and shaking my head to this day!) So, I had to show him how fun the journey could be.

Now, most people who drive from Southern California to Las Vegas just want to beat the traffic and get there. Not me. We have made the drive numerous times, and I have always found a place to stop. The one place we always talked about, but I didn't really believe existed, was the "Spa" off of Zzyzx Road in the middle of nowhere. So, with a road trip to Vegas for New Year's Eve in my future, I did a little research and added the stop to our itinerary. It was so cool!

We took the Zzyzx exit off of the 15 and headed south on this narrow road that wound around the base of desert mountains. There is a chain fence on the left to keep vehicles from driving on what used to be a lake. The road is compacted rocks most of the way, there is a small part in the middle that is unpaved. No worries for us, my little Sapphire is used to getting lost and going off-road, so we were good.

After a few miles (2, 5, who knows, remember, I'm not good at distances) we came to three tall palm trees and then a road lined with trees that looked like they had feathers for leaves. It was really beautiful, and the feathers are actually pine needles! Eventually we came to the parking lot at the end of the road and went out to explore.

This is what you would call a true oasis. In the middle of nowhere there are feather trees, dancing palm trees, and a big pond of natural spring water. Now, according to the internet, the place is famous because some guy bought the land and swindled lots of people by selling healing concoctions while they stayed at his hotel. He did go to jail for fraud, but he left this neat place for us to see, so something good came of it!

When doing my research, most people had visited the oasis before covid, so they got to go into the hotel and explore the grounds. The land is now owned by the CSU system for research, so we were only able to walk around the pond and view the grounds from afar. I did speak to a woman walking by on the Boulevard of Dreams, who gets to live there, and she said it was "interesting". I think she probably meant that cooking for a bunch of college kids living in the desert was "interesting", not the actual place. But a girl can pretend...

Of course, my kids asked if they could jump into the pond and were disappointed that they couldn't go into the buildings. But they did concede that a pool of water in the middle of nowhere was pretty cool. And they also liked the untrimmed palm trees that looked like they were all dressed up for a dance. I think it's safe to say that they won't be back. But I might just stop again if I have different people in the car!