The I-10 Gateway Icons: Palm Springs Windmill Tours, Cabazon Dinosaurs & Desert Hills Outlets

Driving east from Los Angeles toward Palm Springs on Interstate 10 (see getting to Palm Springs), you thread through the mountain funnel between 3,506-metre Mount San Gorgonio and 3,302-metre Mount San Jacinto: the San Gorgonio Pass. Cool coastal air rushes through this gap into the desert like a wind tunnel, hosting four roadside icons within 15 minutes of Downtown Palm Springs.

1. Stop 1 (10 Mins North at I-10 Exit 120): 'Palm Springs Windmill Tours'

Since 1982, the sea of over 1,200 spinning white wind turbines across the San Gorgonio Pass has been the visual gateway to Palm Springs (and a filming location for Mission: Impossible III and Rain Man). To stand directly underneath a 90-metre-tall turbine blade without trespassing on fenced utility roads:

• The 1-Hour Self-Driving 'Windmill Tour' (or Golf-Cart Tour): turn off Indian Canyon Drive onto 20th Avenue to the Palm Springs Windmill Tours Charter Center (check per-car rates on the official website). Staff unlock the private wind-farm gate and set your smartphone up with a 10-stop audio tour so you drive past full-scale turbine nacelles, blades on the ground for scale, solar arrays and 3-megawatt turbines.

2. Stop 2 (15 Mins West on I-10 at Cabazon): 'Cabazon Dinosaurs', 'Hadley' & 'Desert Hills Outlets'

Pull off Interstate 10 at the Cabazon / Apache Trail exits for three classic California roadside stops:

1. The Cabazon Dinosaurs, 'Dinny' & 'Mr. Rex' (50770 Seminole Dr, Outside Photos Free): begun in 1964 by sculptor Claude K. Bell (who built a 46-metre-long, 150-tonne concrete Apatosaurus named Dinny and a 20-metre-tall Tyrannosaurus Rex named Mr. Rex), these giant dinosaurs starred in 1985's Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Photographing both from the car park and visiting Dinny's gift shop is free; tickets are only required for the fenced dinosaur garden.
2. Hadley Fruit Orchards (47993 Morongo Trail, Since 1931): two minutes away, pick up trail mix, dried fruit, Medjool dates and a classic Date Shake.
3. Desert Hills Premium Outlets (48400 Seminole Dr): 180 luxury designer outlet stores (Gucci, Prada, Saint Laurent, Burberry, Bottega Veneta and Celine) in an open-air village.