As parents, my wife and I want to give our family 'experiences' instead of things. Recently we went on another GREAT HERRON ADVENTURE with Apollo, our son. He learned more in 2 days than he would ever learn from books. We all had a blast and here it is!

For Reference, Slab City is just outside of Niland, California....

On our way to Slab City, we stopped in Jacumba Hot Springs, California and saw some pretty nifty trains from the early 1900s.

Apollo was intrigued by all the cool nooks & crannies. In fact, he started asking questions like, " How do trains work?" and "How long does it take to cross the country?" This is an inspiration, from a parents standpoint becasue I know that his cranks are turning. His mind is working...

We arrived at the the same time that a Ronald McDonald Fund team was shooting a photo thingie for the kids. They had Captain America and a few other worldly beings that I am not aware of.

...and even met Superman! WOWZERS!

We all had to take a potty break so we decided to stop at a local store before getting back on the highway. There was a store that caught my eye... The Love Shack!

This neat little store had all kinds of goodies from homemade soaps to necklaces and more. They were supplied by local artists (I think?)

I met a guy named Sam, and his wife Nancy. Oh the stories I learned were amazing! You see, they were nudists and lived in a nudist colony.

All growing up, I was taught that nudity was evil and of the devil. WHAT A LOAD OF GARBAGE! I learned a lot about their community & culture and you know the one thing I got from the experience?

People are people. These guys were so welcoming and full of laughter and if I ever travel down that road again, I will stop just to say Hi!

Apollo also learned that it's not the nudity that is bad. It's the portrayal of all the sexual acts on TV that are not the best thing to be looking at. (Yes we explained it the way a 6 year old would understand and No he didn't see a bunch of naked people! lol)

The Love Shack

44461 Old Highway 80, Ste A
Jacumba Hot Springs, California

"The Love Shack is a unique boutique! We are located in the Heart of Jacumba Hot Springs California--next to Jay's Southern Cafe! We feature local cultural and collectible art and artists--including Tie Dye Clothing and accessories from Naked Made Creations!! Take a ride to The Love Shack--where everything is made with LOVE!!!" - The Love Shack

While we were there, why not snap a shot of these beautiful Jacumba Mountains? These hills were full of rocks that looked like they had been laid there from the hand of God.

...still on our way to Slab City...

We started seeing hay, hay, hay all over the darn place! Mountains of hay. Barns filled to the brim with hay. I still don't know why but I will investigate that later.

This gave us an opportunity to speculate that maybe the hay was shipped to various places on trains or trucks. Apollo learned about the transportation industry today.

Alllrighty Roo! We are finally coming close to Slab City here and what do we have to do? Climb inside an old building filled with who knows what... just for a picture! LOL

I was a bit skeptical about coming here. I didn't know what to expect.

The first thing that hit me and my family was the putrid stench. I don't know where the smell came from. Maybe it came from the landfill. Maybe it comes from the Salton Sea. I am not sure but the entire area stinks really bad.

(After getting home and watching a documentary about the area, I believe the government could fix the Salton Sea. I just don't think enough people care.)

It is not so bad that a person couldn't get used to it but this is something that the pictures can not portray. I didn't know what I was in for and was a bit anxious. I had heard stories about this place...

The small was instantly nullified for a few minutes because of this awesome sight. Again, pictures do it no justice. This is Salvation Mountain. This place is just frikken cool!

The lady that ran the place was super nice and helpful as well!

This place was built with hay, plaster, mud, and thousands of paint cans. I don't know how many people visit but it was packed with tourists when we were there. I would estimated there were about 100+ people there. That's alot when you know this place is out in the middle of absolutely nothing for 50 miles.

Apollo as a truck driver!

We were actually inside Salvation Mountain here. You can go into something that resembles colorful caves.

There were 2 shrines down there. One was for Leonard Knight who dies in 2014. He was the creator of the mountain. The other shrine was for Chris McCandless (The guy portrayed in the movie, 'Into The WIld'.)

Chris McCandless and his story is a main reason we decided to visit Slab City. Our 6 year old watched the movie (minus the naked parts) and he absolutely loved it! We decided right then and there to go.

Into the belly of the mountain...

That's our Goofball!

...and those are pretty flowers. "Stay on the Yellow Brick Road!" There is a yellow brick road that people need to stay on unless you want to slip and fall.

So we are driving up this dusty dirt road and come upon a camper that has things hanging and it resembles a store of some sort. We decide to stop and check it out. At the time, we didn't know if it was a store or just someones home. We decided to stop and say hi.

Dr. Spencer

They had little trinkets and yard sale type products but I met a guy there named Dr. Spencer and he was totally cool and helped change my mind about the people of Slab City.

As we stood there talking, I learned that he was a doctor. I also learned that most of the people who lived in Slab City were there by choice... It was just a different lifestyle.

My eyes were totally opened to the possibility that these people were not all there because they were running from the law. They were not there because they were destitute but even if they were, does this make them any less f a person than you and i? No.

People are people and everyone is different.

Oh yeah! and the reason we talked was the fact that he saw my 'Crypto Hodler' shirt and told me about how he was involved with the market too!

As we drove along, we saw this banner. Very nice! I am very proud of our veterans.

East Jesus

OK. So here is where it get's more interesting! EAST JESUS! This place is totally cool and is the only outdoor museum in Imperial County. The Chasterus Foundation, a 501(c)3 tax-exempt charity, seeks to maintain and expand the vision of the late Charles Stephen Russell in Slab City, California.

They have some awesome projects they are working on too! Check it! http://eastjesus.org/

Also, the Guys -n - Gals that live at East Jesus bought the land so they own it! The government can't come and take it away. I think this is just awesome! Good Job Guys!

Yes you see that correctly. I am on top of a 12 foot seesaw, seesawing with a guy that has devil horns sticking out of his head. I am not sure if they are implants or a sticker of some sort.

The guy was great though. He talked with us and I traded a bag of oranges for stories. He had been there 11 years (I think).

Chris and Apollo are atop a 20 foot tower. Some of the East Jesusites are sitting up there with them. The rule here is, " Play with it. If you break it, tell them it was broken when you got here!" Actually, their website says this, "One of our guiding philosophies is “do as thou wilt”; another is “do no harm”.

Here they are beside an old ship looking piece of art.

Our Bitchin Car!!! This was just fun!

I want you to read some of what is portrayed on the TVs. Most of these are rather TRUE!

Every Saturday night, they have a talent show with all the local Slab City folks. We didn't get to attend becasue Apollo and I were not feeling too well that evening so we went back to the hotel.

EVERYONE HERE... EVERY SINGLE PERSON WAS NICE!

On the way back out of Slab City,Apollo got to make a big bubble with this guy. I can't remember his name but like EVERY OTHER PERSON HERE, the man was super nice! We didn't meet one person who was rude. We didn't encounter one single person who tried to steal our stuff. This was a total 180 from what I thought before I got here!

That evening, while lounging at the Calipatria Inn (The only motel in town I think), Chris snapped a shot of the sunset. We chilled for a few hours and ate some Ramen Noodles we had purchased at Daiso before the trip.

That night, I was having difficulty sleeping, due to the never ending smell of this place, though.

The next morning, we decided to find somewhere to eat. Well the only place near was the 'Donuts & Mexican Food' shop. The coffee was horrible but the donuts were great!

On our way to the Salton Sea, we were looking for some 'Mud Flats' that people had been talking about online. We came to a place where i was uncomfortable taking my car so we tried a different way, only to turn around again. The road was closed. Cool experience though!

On the side of the road were some train tracks. Great spot for a picture!

Here was what we saw.

Apollo thought it was funny that this train was so short! He was like, " How do trains carry stuff if it's so short?" LOL

He found it even funnier that this train was actually a car... driving on the train tracks??? What?

He had never seen that before and this was a great learning experience!

We went to Bombay Beach and found Diddly Squat. We tried to talk to a guy up on top of his house and he didn't wanna help. This Bombay Beach thing was a bust. We just headed to Salton Sea from there.

Upon arriving at the sea, we saw what looked like sand. Do you see it? This 'sand' covered the entire beach, similar to low tide at the beach. Guess what?

That's not sand.

That's actually trillion and trillions of fish bones! The entire 'beach' is covered with them... 30 miles long by 15 miles wide!!!!

Salton Sea was actually an accident and shouldn't be there. It formed in 1905, when an irrigation canal from the Colorado River broke after heavy rainfall. The river broke the banks of the canal and billions of gallons of water spilled over into a dry lake bed.

In the 1960s, it was a popular tourist attraction. It was marketed as a ‘miracle in the desert’. About 500,000 visitors used to come and blanket the entire area every summer.

Salton Sea has no natural inlets or outlets so it ended up sucking all the salt, manure, and pesticides from the soil of the surrounding farm land. The sea is saltier than the ocean, they say. By the 1970s, it became completely unfit to sustain any kind of life. The shoreline was littered with millions of dead fish.

History Lesson is over. Apollo and Chris acting funny for the camera...

...and again...

We stopped at the International Banana Museum but it was closed so we kept on a truckin!

There were people riding ATV's through the desert. This was very cool to watch and I want to rent an ATV now!!!

MY BEAUTIFULS!

Ladidady Flar Flar!

We are Super Serious People! This is how we stand to welcome new people to our church every Sunday!

OMG! I saw a spider!

She wouldn't let us go near the edge. " Get away from there!" She said...

Here is a shot of the ATV camp from the top of the hill.

Yes I did feed Apollo to the Dragon God of the Sand! Scattered all over Borrego Springs are metal dinosaurs, elephants, and statues galore.

The late Dennis Avery, land owner of Galleta Meadows Estates in Borrego Springs envisioned the idea of adding 'free standing art' to his property with original steel welded sculptures created by Ricardo Breceda based in Perris, California. There are over 130 metal sculptures located in Borrego Springs. Source: https://www.desertusa.com/borrego/bs-art.html#ixzz56XdTxOeG

It was even Chris Approved!

...until Apollo made the dragon so angry, he was puked back out to kiss the Turtle God.

AAAHHHH!!!!!!!!! Watch Out! There are Dinosourns!

Here was a little Oasis in Borrego Springs. I kept calling it 'Borrengo' and Chris was like, "There is no N in the name!" HA!

Our car broke down so we had to take a horse & buggy.

...to DinoAfrica...

Here is Apollo looking in an old shop. Some of the artifacts there, other than fossils, were thousands of years old so we had to tell him, " Don't touch ANYTHING!" This allowed me to almost knock something over because I am as clumsy as a clown.

The views going home were fantasitc! I was actually a little scared to drive up the mountain. Apollo told me, " There is no rail!" I think he was a little nervous too.

Overall, this has to be one of the best mini-trips we have ever taken.

To my darling sweety McDoodle Pops, Happy Anniversary! Yep, you read that right! This was our anniversary trip.

We travel in style!

All in all, this trip opened all of our eyes on the different perspectives of different lifestyles. Taking trips like this will help you break out of that barrier you have built for yourself... You know the one... The 'COMFORT ZONE'.

Get out of that shell and take your family to see the world, instead of buying them a crap toy at Wal-Mart!

Happy Travels!