deserts 212 See the Borrego Metal Sculptures Drive along Borrego Springs Road and you might do a double-take: Is that a 350-foot-long serpent squirming its way under the road? Not a mirage, the metal sea monster belongs to a menagerie of life-sized sculptures towering over the sand. Philanthropist Dennis Avery used part of his peeloff label fortune to fund this offbeat sculpture garden, hiring artist Ricardo Breceda to weld 130 fanciful characters from scrap metal and hammer-pounded rebar. The freestanding exhibit includes mythical beasts as well as critters that roamed Anza-Borrego Desert between 100,000 and 2 million years ago. Mammoths, giant sloths, and a four-foot-tall bird of prey populate the desert floor. Pick up a map/guide at the AnzaBorrego Desert Natural History Association bookstore, then go treasurehunting along 22 miles of roadway. Most sculptures are right off the pavement, but to see them all, you'll need a car equipped for sandy desert tracks.