“I’m a loner, Dottie. A Rebel.”

To close out my stay in California, Troy had a surprise for me this past weekend. After grabbing brunch at STOWAWAY, which I wrote about earlier this week, we hit the road to get some coffee and plan out the remainder of our Saturday afternoon. I’ve grown accustomed to SoCal’s insane traffic over the years, and thought nothing of it when we were once again sitting bumper-to-bumper with a billon other cars on our way back to what I thought was Troy’s apartment.

Despite being well caffeinated, the sun and heat- combined with staying out late the night before- had me feeling a little tired and I eventually nodded off in the passenger’s seat while listening to KROQ. When I awoke about thirty minutes later and saw that we were still on the road, Troy assured me that he’d gotten off the highway and was making his way to his apartment via back roads and side streets- which is usually how I get around- so I thought nothing of it and went back to sleep.

Another twenty minutes later I woke up again, and we were on a dusty road near a gas station and what looked like an abandoned fast food restaurant. We were also very clearly in the desert. Before I could ask any questions or check my Maps application- I caught sight of a very familiar dinosaur statue, which has since been painted to honor the late and great comedian that made it famous.

‘Pee Wee’s Big Adventure’ remains one of my favorite movies of all time, and I was devastated when Paul Reubens passed away earlier this Summer. I had mentioned visiting the Cabazon Dinosaurs well before I arrived in California last month, but didn’t think we had the time to make the drive in-between working and other plans we’d made.

Well, Troy put aside the time so we could see it- and I may have started crying from happiness.

The T-Rex from the movie has been temporarily painted to look like it’s wearing Pee-Wee’s signature suit and bowtie, and you can go into it’s mouth for a photo with the purchase of a museum/trail ticket, which of course we did! We took all the photos imaginable (including helping out some other visitors with their selfies and family portraits) and bought a couple of keepsakes. Troy was also kind enough to dig around in the sand to find special rocks that we could trade in for a free prize at the gift shop. He’s an absolute gem like that.

The Pee-Wee tribute is staying up until the end of October, I believe- after which the T-Rex will likely be painted to look how it normally does. It’s such an iconic and cute roadside attraction, and I’m so glad and grateful I got to see it before I headed home!