Imperial Valley

I'm having one of those yucky, slow, beginning of the year kind of weeks where my phone has gone silent. I've found one of the best remedies for this is to just get outta town, away from the pressures of bills, taxes, kids karate lessons(200.00) mortgage payment, and on and on.... I've been reading about the Imperial Valley, about 2 hours East of San Diego, which has the highest unemployment in the nation (24% give or take a few points). This is staggering considering some of the more commonly known cities such as Flint Mich., Detroit, Gary, Indiana are all around 15-17%. I decided to hop in the car and go have a look. The area was littered with abandoned storefronts and tons of check cashing shops, medical offices, taco joints, bars, Mexican insurance shops, dudes with cowboy hats hangin' out. To be quite honest, it looked about the same as it always has. The imperial Valley has always been a treasure trove for great imagery in that it displays a rustic, old world charm that has been very slow to modernize with the rest of the country. It's an agricultural area that has a dry, harsh climate most off the year and is basically 99.9% Hispanic. If you want culture, you'd actually have to cross the Border and go into Mexicali for god restaurants, disco's, theater, etc..
These shots were really just screwing around. I'd like to go back for a few days and really capture the feel of the place.