Kelly and I visited China Ranch a couple months ago--- for my birthday actually. These pictures have been uploaded, just waiting for me to curate them.
If you drive 60 miles out of Las Vegas-- 30 miles down Hwy 160 towards Pahrump, and another 30 miles off the highway on the Old Spanish Trail-- you might find yourself at China Ranch, CA.
China Ranch is a date farm built on an spring in the California desert. When I say desert, I mean 117 degrees under a blazing sun. I think that may have been the hottest weather I've ever experienced!
The visit was well-worth a 1/2-day trip to explore, enjoy a date shake, and experience local history outside of the city.
It's definitely hokey, but that's part of the charm. 
They had quite a collection of cacti and agave for sale.
And an even bigger collection of random things no one needs.
This must be "cowboy corner"!
And the thrift clothing corner--- of course. (?!)
I really did want this little sombreroed doll, but I didn't have a good reason to get it. It will probably still be there next time!
The date shakes were quite good. Enzo enjoyed the last melted bit of Kelly's.
It was too hot to walk through the date groves (is that what you call them?). We took the driving tour. They had a half-dozen types of dates from all over the world. I believe this one was the Madagascar Purple Date. (I am totally making that up.)
Another cool part of the trip was a freak storm we drove through on the way home. The rain and lightening was great to watch roll in. The temperature dropped from 115 to the high 70's in less than 5 minutes!
All in all, a great day-trip.
3 comments:
How fun! I had no idea there was such thing as a date grove or farm or whatever.
wow, I can't believe this is actually in Nevada...it looks beautiful. But 117 degrees, yikes.
Happy (very) belated birthday. How is the letter press?
I was thinking a date shake was a shake you shared with your 'honey'. I thought Kelly had his priorities mixed up because there he was, sharing with the dog.
Glad to see he's not that confused.
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