A tree-filled state that’s crossed by rivers, dotted with lakes, and has an average high temperature of 78 degrees in the summer is an unlikely place to find a desert. But nevertheless, there is one here! Supposedly left by glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age, these 40 acres looked just like regular farmland until soil erosion brought on by shoddy cultivation exposed the desert sometime in the 1800s. A clever entrepreneur capitalized on the phenomenon by purchasing the land in 1917 and turning it into a tourist destination, which it’s been ever since. A visit to this desert (which, at least according to its website, has been declared “bona fide” by legitimate scientists) is complete with nature walks, coach tours, a gift shop, and even a sand museum – where sand from all over the world is on display in tiny jars (we kid you not). You can even take your picture with a statue of a camel. So if you don’t live near the Mojave, fear not – the desert might not be as far as you think.
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