the natural hot spring at Tecopa
This fabulous little desert town lies just outside the far eastern boundary of Death Valley, about 90 minutes from Vegas along the Old Spanish Trail/Tecopa Highway.
There are some semi-mucky natural hot springs in the area (free to access, just a short 5-minute walk from the highway…and they’re actually not bad, but don’t put the mud on your face — it’s full of pubes and other human detritus), but the rest have all been commercialized and developed as part of resorts. But not
the developed tubs at Delights
the assy, “resort”-y type of resorts….they’re all pretty run down and fabulous. The main one, Delights, was recently taken over by Koreans from Vegas, and I think you can even get a Korean massage there.
There’s not much to do in the area other than soak in the springs…but there is a fabulous little restaurant out there called the Death Valley Internet Cafe. In these kooky little desert towns, your food choices are usually limited to shitty greasy-spoon stuff. Not so with the DV Internet Cafe, which inexplicably serves fresh, healthy, gourmet-type organic food in the middle of nowhere!!!
a home in Tecopa Heights
It’s run by two young guys who ditched their restaurant gigs in Vegas in favor of the peaceful desert life — how fantastic is that?!
Tecopa is also home to the usual assortment of weird desert compounds and trailer parks. If you’re feeling particularly frisky, you can go down to the nearby-ish China Ranch Date Farm (below), where they keep the dates warm in winter by covering them with colorful old shirts.
China Ranch Date Farm
Other than that, there ain’t shit to do out in Tecopa. Fun!!!
I’ve only been to Vegas a handful of times, but I think I did make it to the date farm. Didn’t know about the hotsprings though, maybe next time. Keep on traveling!!
The date farm is cool! But the springs are bad ass….check em out next time!
Hot spring etiquette – no glassware.
OMG you are right!!! I didn’t even realize I’m holding a champagne bottle in the photo….I’ll have to take some new pics next time I’m out there, with my reusable mug 🙂
Meanwhile, back at the oasis, all the Arabs were eating their dates…
Just bein’ a smart ass…AGAIN! Pretty clever…dressing the dates up in tee shirts to keep them warm. I’d never have thought of that. Thanks for sharing, Darlin’.
Glad you enjoyed! It’s a pretty cool place…
Those colorful ‘shirts’ are there to keep the birds from eating the developing date fruits.
I enjoy all your posts Sarah, keep at it girl!!
Ahhh…. That makes sense! Those pesky birds!!