Kelso on to Zzyzx

Sorry this took so long to finish we are away from home a lot with our work schedule.
On that Early February day we left Kelso heading for I-15 again to the town of Baker. We ate some lunch there and started to head home. Right out side of Baker is an off ramp. Anybody who has driven to Las Vegas has seen this off ramp. There is nothing that can be seen as you pass by the off ramp either so you wonder what the heck possessed anyone to name this road in the desert Zzyzx. ( pronouced like Issac from what I'm told). Well for the adventuresome people, if you head south on that road you come to a place that was once a mineral spa back in the 1940's. It accually has an interesting history that is both checkered and Ironic. Check out the wikipedia entry for this place http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zzyzx,_California The part I like about the guy who built this place is the fact that while he is selling his "snake oil" and mineral spa, he unwittingly saved an endagered fish...lol. We truck down Zzyzx road and park at the parking area. The Parking area has a restroom there that can come in handy after that bumpy road to the place. There are Tamarisk trees and Palms everywhere, most of them lined up to make roads and avenues for the subdivision he was going to build out there.
Once again this place is an architecture geeks cool zone. Built in a 40's style art deco style it is cool just to look at the buildings.

The Place is now run by the University of California. It is a place for Desert studies and the study of the for mentioned endangered fish. It is set up kind of like a camp now with dorms and showers.
We looked around and read all the placards and at the wild life. We also looked around at what is left of the old spa pool and abandoned rooms. I took what I think is some artsy pictures.



There were some abandoned rooms at this place, more like hotel rooms with bathrooms and such. In one room someone had collected a bunch of old toilet bowls together in a group. I couldn't resist getting a picture on them...lol Picture titled "meeting of the minds"

And the last one called "contemplation".

At one time this was a cool resort I guess. It had a mineral pool...


The pool was once enclosed by windows but no roof. The empty window panes and the clouded desert back drop was rather captivating, and made for some cool pictures.

It had been raining off and on so the ground was kind of muddy, and my cute fiancee found these tire tracks rather interesting. They fit well for the pending Valentines Day.


Zzyzx is a interesting place to see, all adventurers should see it once.

We hit the road again and headed towards Barstow Ca. Just before you hit Main St. there is a sign advertising the Harvey House, but unfortunately it was closed when we got there. That one is now on our future list for stops. We followed Route 66 for the rest of the way until our turn off for home. It was a great outing, I would recommend all those places to those who seek outing like this.
Kris