Boron, California - Borax Visitor Center

High points: dog-and-people-friendly guy at the entrance, photo-op displays outside the visitor center, excellent gift shop, uncredited Ronald Reagan cameo during the video. I probably would have been bored as a kid but as an adult who enjoys the Discovery and History channels, I was very impressed. This is absolutely the way to run a visitor's center at a mine - make it fun, keep it in good repair, emphasize the environmentalism. Such a great little stop in the middle of the desert. [Shauna, 02/27/2008]

An attraction you simply must visit is the Borax Visitor Center. It's a brand-new building run by the Borax Corporation, with some models, product and ore displays, and a short film. After the film, you're treated to a view of Borax's huge open-pit mining operation. Out front sits one of the original 20-mule team wagons that brought Borax from Death Valley.

Admission is $2 per car at a guard gate (since it's very near the mining operation), and they give you a free piece of ore with interesting transparent properties. My wife and I spent 45 minutes there one Sunday, where each display was explained to us personally by a host, as there was no one else there to occupy his time! [Mike May, 01/04/1999]