Exploring the Vibrant Life of America’s Deserts in the Spring

Blooms, Birdsong, and Blue Waters—A Springtime Road Trip through the Southwest

By Oana Harrison

PUBLISHED in ROVA Magazine, March/April 2025 issue

The desert: dust, death, and desolation. Or at least that’s how I used to think about it before our springtime road trip to the Southwest. Eight months into a full-time RV year that my husband, David, and I had embarked upon, we headed west through Texas to New Mexico, Arizona, the California coast and back. Along the way, we discovered unique places in the Chihuahua, Sonora, Mojave, and Colorado Deserts. The Southwest offered incredible natural nuances, from shifting sand dunes to endless canyons, to lush oases and blue lakes. This landscape I’d once viewed as dead and quiet, the desert was teeming with life. And nothing prepared me for the intense orange-purple sunsets or the Technicolor desert in bloom.

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An Intriguing Fluke: Salton Sea, California

From the blooming paradise of Hot Springs, California, we followed I-10 south to Thermal, California, a wide spot in the road near Salton Sea. The inland sea might look pretty, but its history is as troubled and its fumes are toxic.

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A Blooming Cactus Paradise: Palm Springs

We spent one week at the end of March 2020 in the beautiful Sky Valley, just north of Coachella and north east of Palm Springs, at what became one of our favorite RV parks: Sky Valley RV Resort. If the world were ending, we would have thought ourselves in Paradise there, surrounded by peaceful palms and multicolor cactus blooms.

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A Glam-Free Hollywood

In March of 2020, the usually glamorous Hollywood had a strange post-apocalyptical vibe as the COVID-19 pandemic rolled in. Deserted streets, boarded up shops, and an eerie feeling greeted us at famed California tourist destinations.

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Danish Capital of America: Solvang, California

If you find yourself in need of a good Danish pastry, you don’t have to travel all the way to Europe; instead, head to Solvang, California: the Danish Capital of America! We discovered this little gem on our way to Santa Barbara, just past Lake Cachuma.

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