Jurassic Park: Anza-Borrego Edition

When you just need to step away for a day and see the dinosaurs 🦕

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, 03-02-22

"With no formal art training whatsoever, a cowboy-boot salesman was persuaded by his young daughter to create a dinosaur sculpture after she had seen the movie Jurassic Park. He made a 20-foot tall, 45-foot long metal statue of Tyrannosaurus Rex as her Christmas gift" (https://www.springsatborrego.com/dinosaurs-in-the-anza-borrego-desert/).

This is an attraction (would one even call it that?) that doesn't really come up in a google search of 'Things To Do/See in California'. Spread all throughout the park lay many, many sculptures- some all the way up to 20 feet fall- of different kinds of animals. Most are action-oriented, such as a predator attacking its prey or a dinosaur roaring, and are almost entirely covered in brown rust.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, 03-02-22

If there's one thing I've learned since moving to California, it's that there's definitely no shortage of strange, random things that lie in the middle of the desert. I almost feel like the desert is similar to the ocean- there's a lot of it unexplored, there's a lot of sand to touch, there's a lot of secrets to find. There's nothing cooler and more therapeutic than packing up the car and getting the opportunity to explore the hidden gems of the California desert with a couple of really cool friends, and I stand by that.

All in all, the park was really gorgeous. I went with my boyfriend Collin, (because why would I not), and together honestly I think we made Anza-Borrego our park. We said hi to elephants and horses and dinosaurs and before we left, got a burger and a hotdog at a small desert restaurant flooding with white-haired people. Collin thought there was a war veteran event going on or something, but I think that's just the crowd nowadays in the middle of the desert.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, 03-02-22

In the end, if you get a chance, go see the desert dinos. Who knows how long it'll be until nature takes them back?