Our path home brought us to Mojave National Preserve and desert solitude in Southern California.

I love this description, "Singing sand dunes, cinder cone volcanoes, Joshua tree forest, and carpets of wildflowers are all found at this 1.6-million-acre park. A visit to its canyons, mountains, and mesas will reveal long-abandoned mines, homesteads, and rock-walled military outposts. Located between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Mojave provides serenity and solitude from major metropolitan areas."
A new discovery for us was the town of Kelso and its spectacular Depot.

How about this darling, defunct Post Office?

Kelso Depot seems like an anomaly in the middle of the desert, but for the Union Pacific, it became a thriving necessity. Since its inception in 1862, the Union Pacific (UP) wanted a foothold on the West Coast. After reaching Portland, Oregon, the UP turned its attention to the rich California markets and the ports around Los Angeles. To get there, it needed to construct a railroad line across the Mojave Desert. Kelso was crucial to reaching that goal.
The steep two percent grade that trains had to climb from west of Kelso to Kessler Summit (later renamed Cima) meant that extra “helper engines” would need to be stationed nearby to help them up the grade. Additionally, steam locomotives of the era desperately needed water. Kelso was perfectly situated to fill both roles, since it is located near the bottom of the 2,078 foot grade, and had a reliable water source from a nearby spring in the Providence Mountains.
The first depot at Kelso opened in 1905, followed a few months later by a post office, an engine house and an “eating house” to serve both railroad employees and the passengers on trains without dining cars (oh and this fancy jail, too). The town grew over time, as more employees were needed and more of their families moved to the Mojave Desert to join them.
In the early 1920s, the Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad began planning for new depots, restaurants and employee facilities at several towns, including Kelso. Competition with the Santa Fe Railway was tight and rail passengers had become accustomed to their famously stylish Harvey House train stations. Therefore, railroad managers chose to design the new buildings on the Salt Lake Route in the Spanish Mission Revival style. Doing so, Chairman Lovet wrote, would “add very little to the expense but a great deal to the appearance of the place. It is a dreary country and the lack of anything of this sort contrasts very conspicuously with the Santa Fe.”
Civil engineers working for the railroad in Los Angeles drew up the plans for the “Kelso Clubhouse & Restaurant,” in 1923. The building would include a conductor’s room, telegraph office, baggage room, dormitory rooms for staff, boarding rooms for railroad crewmen, a billiard room, library and locker room. Construction started in 1923 and the depot opened in 1924.
Originally, the restaurant and telegraph office each had three shifts, operating around the clock. This continued through the boom years of the 1940s, when Kaiser’s Vulcan mine caused Kelso’s population to grow to nearly 2,000. The closing of the mine coupled with diesel engines replacing steam resulted in the UP moving jobs and families out of Kelso. The depot function ended in 1962, although the restaurant and boarding rooms were still in use. The advancement of diesel technology led to fewer and fewer crew members needing to eat or stay overnight, so in 1985 the UP decided to close the Kelso Depot entirely. Thankfully, through some battles, it was saved and is now the Visitor Center for this breathtaking Preserve.












The wildflowers were a kaleidoscope of hues and shapes. We loved them all.

One of our favorite websites is Atlas Obscura. It is how I found the World Famous Crochet Museum, housed in old California photo stand has been turned into a shrine to the cozy art of crochet.
Curator and non crocheter, Shari Elf, had been collecting crochet items since the early 90s, years before she decided to purchase the roadside hut that now houses her collection. After just happening on the stand, she purchased it without a real idea of what she would do with it. Once she acquired it, however, she moved it to its current Joshua Tree home and covered it in a layer of blinding green paint. Her collection of crocheted items had been placed in storage, but she carted it back out and arranged it along the new shelves she built inside.
Among the eclectic collection we found just about every conceivable type of item, represented in crochet form. There are animals like poodles (Elf’s original crochet subject), bears, and unicorns. There are also more abstract designs like smiley faces and lumpy little creations that are less identifiable.
The upbeat collection celebrates the eclectic tastes of its owner as much as it does the art of crochet, but with few other contenders to the title, this little roadside oddity may just be as famous as its sign claims.
Next stop was Beauty Bubble Salon and Museum. I was so bummed it was closed as it is described as "a bizarre collection of thousands of odd hair-aphernalia.”
I wish I could have asked hairstorian, Jeff Hafler, what the heck this hair dryer was all about. WHY? Oh so many questions. We will have to return.
Our grand adventure got cut short by a few days as Steve had to return home for some timely business issues. BUT, the four days we did have were amazing.