When we first drove from Tucson to San Diego in the summer of 1999 right after we moved here, we were amazed at the impossible terrain. First you encounter the Sonoran Desert Monument on the way to Gila Bend. Then you encounter mountains in the shape of sleeping giants on the way to Yuma. But the wildest thing of all --- even more wild than the rocky, barren mountain ascending to Alpine and the Pacific --- was the Imperial Sand Dunes between Yuma and El Centro on I-8. We noticed the same pure white dunes ascending to the blue sky right along the highway when we came this way again on the return segment of our trip to California last June. Does it look like the Sahara? You bet! Lawrence of Arabia could be riding his camel here dressed in his pure white robe with a gold-brocaided belt with a curved sword fastened in it. Hollywood once used this setting for making movies. You can see why.
Note: This is a rest area as well as a park. Now instead of porta toilets they have built the same kind of wooden restrooms that they feature at the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite --- minus the shade trees, of course.