Way down in the south of California 80 miles to the East of San Diego is the small but unique town of Borrego Springs.
Unique for its setting right in the middle of the Anza Borrego park and a designated international dark sky community it is also a thriving art gallery.
That may sound odd as there are galleries in the town centre but the big gallery is the park itself.
The artist Ricardo Breceda has created an open air exhibition of his permanent metal sculptures throughout the area.
At first the place looks desolate and empty but as yiou squint into the sun you may see unfamiliar things.
A camel, a family of elephants or a scorpion the size of truck.
This is not a simple or straightforward exhibition. A tyranosauraus rex or a gigantic locust may startle you easy to find others just catch your eye as you drive along. A WW2 Willys jeep is hidden up a track behind a screen of thornbushes..
Unmissable as you pass away from town is a giant serpent crosses under the road.
Fantastical mammoth like beasts lie deep in the desert scrub, their fur thousands of strips of rusting steel.
More unnerving are the figures sculpures as you head away. Are they people in the middle of the desert or sculptures. You think youve seen them then they are gone.
That is the nature of this place. 
You feel you have been here before yet it is remote and isolated.
As you head out of town there is the famed slot canyon. A tiny sign directs you onto a dirt track and to a parking lot. Signs are shot up with bullet holes and the canyon is difficult to see.
But heading down a unsigned but well trodden path takes you to to ever more vertical and encroaching walls.
As you pass down the walls get higher and closer such that at some stages its a sidways shuffle down the path.
As you get further down precariously balanced boulders hang overhead and collapsed towers appear to be impossibly held by the neighbouring rocks.
The canyon is not too long nor is it strenuous but the heat, the rocks and the sheer size will take your breath away.
There is plenty more to see, eat and do in Anza Borrego. If you are heading down to San Diego or Palm Springs take the time to get out there.
Nick Inston 