Salton Sea ProjectPhilip Stilwell

2a. At the blue signThis was one of our first stops on our trip. The sign looks crooked,

but it is actually straight. It looks like that because the ground underneath it is uneven. This marked the beginning of my gorilla

adventures.

2b. At the visitor centerThis is me striking a pose at the visitor center. Kaitlin and Malerey

were inside looking for the ranger while Max and I took this picture. I consider this a favor to the camera because of my stunning face.

2c. With a creatureThis is me with birds. This was the only time during the trip that we saw

a large group of flying creatures so we quickly took turns getting a picture with them.Apparently, birds don’t like living in the middle of nowhere

in heavily polluted water. I never would have guessed.

2d. Shaking hands with rangerThe ranger was a very nice lady. She shook all of our hands, and then got back to work after we were done interrupting her. I heard that the ranger talked about me to other groups of students, so I’m glad that my mask made an impression on her. I plan on taking over the

world with the mask some day.

2e. At the boat rampThis is the boat ramp where we found all the dead fish. You can see

them to my right (the picture’s left) if you look closely. The ramp smelt like salt water times one billion.

2f. With the fishermanThe fisherman seemed very confused when an individual in a gorilla mask came up to him and took his fishing pole. I reassured to him

that I was human by removing my mask.

2g. Holding up a fishThis was one of the many dead fish that we saw on the edge of the water at this particular boat dock. It smelled terrible. Confirmed

dead. It wasn’t just lack of deodorant.

2h. Air quality stationI don’t know if I got the two air quality stations mixed up, so I put this one here just in case. Insert same paragraph for the last air

quality station here.

2i. On the beach looking at sandThis is me crying because Kaitlin is abusive. Also, the sand is made out of dead fish.

Thanks for the heads up Mr Wehler. This happens to the fish becausethe water’s salt content is extremely high, effectively

killing the fish and turning them into fish dust.

3. Mecca Beach SignThis is the sign for Mecca Beach.

As you can see, it is labeled as a state recreation area.This is not true. It is basically just a desert with dead animals and dirt.

Maybe it was a recreation area fifty years ago, but not anymore.

4. Corvina BeachThis is the Corvina Beach sign. As you can see, it is anotherfailed recreation area. There is nothing but dirt and polluted

water at this one. Definitely fun for the whole family.

5a. Bombay Beach SignThis is the Bombay Beach Sign. It is most likely named as a derivative of ‘bomb’, since the idea of having a beach here ‘bombed’ after the water became a salty

mess that nobody wanted to get within one hundred miles of.

5b. At the air quality test station

This is a picture of us at the air quality testing station.According to the person we asked, it’s no longer in use,probably because they gave up testing the terrible air

at the Salton Sea. I don’t blame them. I also noticed thatthe fence was perfect for honing my gorilla-wall-climbing-skills.

5c. Pirate’s AlleyIn all honesty, I don’t remember what Pirate’s Alley was. You can just

go ahead and mark me down for this slide.

5d. At the ski inn.

The ski inn was an interesting place.The people inside were already drunkand it wasn’t even noon. It is quite the

lifestyle that they have embraced. They were funny though, so I will give

them credit for that.

5e. In the Ski InnThe name is misleading. It isn’t actually an inn, and as soon as you’re

inside, you want to get out. We hung around just long enough to take a picture, and then we ran back out to the car.

5f. The prettiest houseThis house won by a lot. All the other houses consisted

of broken windows, missing doors, and dirt. It wasn’t even a contest choosing this one.

5g. At the old marinaThis is me walking back from the end of the marina. The smell was horrible. It would be torture to make someone stand out there for more than twenty seconds without an air freshener stapled to their face. Standing out there was the equivalent of locking yourself in a

refrigerator full of ten year old rotten milk.

6. Spa SignThis is us outside the entrance of the resort. Malerey isn’t actually holding me on her hand. It is an illusion. I will tell you the secret on

how it was done if I can have an A.

6a. At the marketI stopped to take a nap at the market while everyone else went

inside. The pavement was hot, and it burnt my arms, but that is a very small price to pay for a few minutes of sleep.

6b. In front of Gilly’sIt wasn’t called Gilly’s anymore, so I hope this counts.

We got a lot of confused faces when we kept asking where Gilly’s was. Eventually we found a person who had lived there for a while,

and they knew about Gilly’s. It took a lot longer than expected though.

6c. Prettiest houseWe weren’t allowed to go very far, so this was the prettiest house we could find within our limits. It’s not great, but it worked well enough for what we needed to do. Notice my expertly executed fish face.

6d. At first teeThis was a very unusual golf course. At first we were looking for

something that actually had grass, but then we realized that it probably wouldn’t have grass since it was in the middle of a desert.

After asking for a lot of directions, we found our way to the first tee.

7a. Rattlesnake SignI hid from the camera in this picture. This is a sign telling us to beware of rattlesnakes, however it was winter so I think we were safe. I don’t think the rattlesnakes wanted to mess

with me anyway.

7b. At the info kioskThis is us at the info kiosk next to the rattlesnake sign.

I was looking in the yellow box for rattlesnakes, but I couldn’t even find one. They are really good at hiding.

8. Mud volcanoesThe volcanoes shot mud upat our faces so we couldn’t

get too close to them. This isme standing next to one. We

also had one of our only human encounters here. It wasweird actually seeing someone.

9. Niland SignI don’t really have much to say about Niland.

It was mostly deserted except for a few trailers, and we didn’t stay there very long. I can comment on the sign, though. It has nice

colors, and is pleasing to look at.

9a. Buckshot DinerThis is a picture of me sitting in front of the door at the Buckshot Diner.

The guy tried to get inside while I was having my picture taken, so we took the picturereally fast and then ran away to avoid being chased down by his posse.

We went inside momentarily, but we didn’t eat there because we were short on time.

9b. Niland Fire Dpt.This is us at the fire department. There was a tiny dog

running around while we were there. I got a few pictures of it but I lost them. Apparently some other groups saw it too.

10. SM SignThis was the beginning of our journey into salvation

mountain. There were a lot of strange individuals there, but I guess I’m not one to judge since I was invading their habitat.

They seemed to be enjoying their time at the mountain.

10a. On the stairsThis is me standing on the stairs

at Salvation Mountain. It was a reallystrange place and I couldn’t wait toget out of there. It was cool, but itcreeped me out. The guy who builtit must have spent a long time on it.

11. Slab City Sign

I ventured inside the box while everyone else stayed inside. It had some weird writing and smelled like poop. Definitely a

multi-sensory experience. All ages recommended.

11a. Shoe TreeI tried to throw my shoe into the shoe tree. Luckily, it didn’t stay. I would have lost my shoe forever! We went

here right after Salvation Mountain, since we saw it on the side of the road.

11b. Christian CenterThis was the Slab City Christian Center. It said “all

welcome” but we didn’t dare to step inside. I’m sure it was a nice place, though. We just didn’t feel like picking a lock

and sneaking in on that particular day.

11c. At the range signThis place was interesting. It seemed like a miniature

theater that people would perform at a long time ago. There wasn’t anyone there, but I’m assuming that it used to

be a pretty cool place to hang out on the weekends.

12. IID Wetlands SignThis was the best sign ever. It worked as a perfect shade

from the sun, and explained how it planned to preserve the ecosystem. It killed two birds with one stone. I wish I could

be as good as that sign.

13. Desert ShoresThis was Desert Shores. It was a nice place to end our day.

It had a better look to it than the rest of the desert, and it didn’t smell bad either.

13a. VFWThis was a cool site to see. It reminded me of my grandpa since he

served in World War 2. We hung around here for a few minutes and looked around.

13b. Church by the SeaWhen we stopped at the church by the sea, I sat down and prayed

that I would get an A on this assignment. We will see how that turns out.

13c. DSFDThis was us at the Desert Shores Fire Department. We happened to be there when the fire truck was parked inside. A lot of groups did

not get to see it, so we were fortunate.

14. Salton Sea BeachThis was us at the Salton Sea Beach entrance. Max almost died here. Kaitlin’s mom saved him from getting run over by a car. He needs to

look both ways before crossing the street.

14b. At a picnic tableThe picnic tables at the Salton Sea Beach were sunk half way into the ground. This sand was also made out of dead fish. If you look

to the right, you can see Max rocking the Justin Bieber hair.

15. Red Earth CasinoThis is us at the casino. I was planning on going in and winning some money, but apparently there is an age requirement when gambling.

We could have gone home millionaires.

16. Salton City WelcomeThis was the welcome sign for Salton City. It is kind of

ironic because we went here when we were leaving. The sun was almost down, and we were on a mission to finish

up the last of our pictures.

16b. West Shores RVThis was one of our last stops on the trip. We were all tired as you can see by Max’s questionable actions. I’m not quite sure what he

was doing, but it was probably pointless.

16d. High SchoolSomething tells me that our high school might have a little bit higher standards. I don’t know for sure, though. That’s just what it looks like

from the outside.

18a. Food MartIt took me so long to perfect this move that it would be

cruel to not give me extra credit for this slide. It was harder than it looks, Mr Wehler.

20. Geothermal Plant

This is me at the geothermal plant.We weren’t allowed to get a full tour,

so we just stood there acting like we belonged, and they didn’t get

mad at us.

20a. (Semi) Tour of Plant

This was us in the geothermal plant. Max stepped over the yellow line before this picture was taken, and panic was induced. They quickly told him to step

back over the line and to be more careful. I don’t think they liked us.

DOG

THE END