Words that come to mind when you think of the Salton Sea area include polluted, desolate, smelly, and impoverished. The body of water was created by accident in 1905, when floodwater breached a Colorado River irrigation channel and filled the "Salton Sink" basin in the Imperial Valley.
Without any natural inlet, the lake basically started to shrink as soon as it was created. But in the 1950's and 60's, it became a water sports playground destination for southern California, including the rich and famous. Ruins of old resorts still dot the shoreline.
Needless to say, with its depressing beaches of stinky dead fish and crunchy white bones, people avoid it. The water is saltier than the ocean and heavily polluted with agricultural run-off.
However, the east shore is home to a large state park and interesting visitors center. Everything clean, nice and empty. We saw just one camper in the hundreds of spaces. People come here to take in the bizarre atmosphere, stargaze and enjoy the solitude. Not to mention, this is a birder's paradise with over 400 species. That's half the species in north America.
Yes, those are thousands of partially buried tires.
How on earth? Anyway, so many things about the Salton Sea boggle the mind.
But we had the beach to ourselves on a beautiful morning. I loved seeing all those birds and was glad we made the hour drive from Palm Springs.
Other than that, just settled into our regular Palm Springs routine. There is something comforting about coming back and doing the same old enjoyable things. The adventure travel days are behind us. Salton Sea was enough excitement for one day.
The weather is desert perfection for January, with sunny skies and high temperatures in the 60's.
Evenings are cold, but we have a gas fire pit in the courtyard to warm our old feet with a glass of wine. There's also a private outdoor bathtub. The swimming pool is on the chilly side, my only complaint. The lap of luxury for a few days.
And of course, plenty of this going on. Chicken fajitas.
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