Showing posts with label Mojave Desert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mojave Desert. Show all posts

Friday, February 24, 2012

Tall Things, Part 8: The world's tallest thermometer

By Jack Brummet, Travel Editor



The world's tallest thermometer is located in Baker, California, in the Mojave Desert.

Actually, calling it a thermometer is a misnomer.  It doesn't have fifty gallons of mercury in a glass tube.  It is an electric sign, posting readings from an analog thermometer, but just a little taller than the ones you see outside of banks and shopping malls. 

The sign is 134 feet tall, in tribute to a record 134 degrees Fahrenheit recorded in adjacent Death Valley in 1913.  The "thermometer" weighs 38 tons and is held together by 125 cubic yards of concrete.  It can display a maximum temperature of, duh, 134 degrees.

The thermometer is planted right next to a Bob's Big Boy restaurant.  You can see it from Interstate 15 in the  Mojave. 
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Saturday, February 04, 2012

Rocks: rocks and rock formations in and around The Mojave Desert

By Jack Brummet, Travel Editor

I was fascinated by the rock formations we saw in, and around, The Mojave desert this week.   There are many more I wanted to see, but time was limited.  Here are some of my favorite rocks:

That's Keelin in the center of the photo







Split Rock






a view of the Coachella Valley - you can see The Salton Sea in the center below the clouds

These last shots are of my favorite, Skull Rock


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