The meth labs of Barstow, California. Seeing an early morning explosion in all its glory makes one realize that he is truly in God’s country.
And Death Valley. Second only to Utah as the finest desert scenery in the United States.
As a Californian I have familiarity with Joshua Tree and Death Valley. Been to Utah, NM and Nevada deserts. Haven’t been to the Eastern Oregon side, my Oregon kin were all on the wet side of the state. I love Joshua Tree quite a bit but almost all of it is wonderful in one way or the other.
And, it’s one of the driest places on the planet.
Yes I struggle a bit to accept Antarctica is a desert but there is no precipitation so ok. Personally I’d like to explore the Dry Valleys.
The drive down the Baja peninsula, from San Diego / Tijuana down to La Paz and Todos Santos and Cabo San Lucas and Cabo Pulmo has spectacular desert scenery. I’ve done it twice in the last 15 years. I recommend driving down in the winter months and then seeing the gray whales in the lagoons of central Baja. The whales approach close enough that you can touch them. I wasn’t quite that close, but almost there - within a few inches of one; definitely less than a foot away from my outstretched hand.
The Namib, the world’s oldest desert - coastal fog, desert elephants, Skeleton Coast, Fish River Canyon, world’s tallest active dunes…it really is an impressive place.
Oh, and Ethilrist, it has penguins 
If you’re ever interested in an easier visit to something similar, (not quite identical, but people I know who’ve been to both always remark on the similarities,) Table Mountain is situated in Cape Town and has a cable car to the top
Your cites don’t do a very good job of verifying your assertions about the Sahara Desert.
Your first ‘cite’ is awfully sparse on facts.
“The Sahara Club, a group of plant-crushing motorcycle enthusiasts is aptly named. Large portions of the Sahara desert and other eroded wastelands of North Africa are man-made. In historical (that is, Roman Empire) times, many now ugly and hostile areas of North Africa were verdant and friendly. They became deserts after men cut down all of the trees and their goats nibbled all of the smaller plants out of existence.”
And you second ‘cite’ doesn’t back up your claim, at all.
“The researchers believe that the eastern Sahara, which includes parts of Egypt, Sudan, Libya and Chad, began to dry out around 5300 BC, and that most of the tribes had retreated eastward to the Nile or southward to northern Sudan by 3500 BC.”
And I think that this, “… the Southwest? That’s all man made, it was an early version of the Dust Bowl.” is way too broad of a statement.
Got a cite for that little jewel? :dubious:
Huh. You’d think that the polar bears would eat most of them. 
My favorite part is the Welwitschia. Not much to look at, but a very cool idea.
I live in a desert. I think most people expect sand and cacti, but there’s none of that here.
Crap, forgot about Death Valley. That probably is the coolest (hottest) desert I’ve been to.
The Atacama desert has Humboldt Penguins!
I’ve been to Angel Falls, and that’s the last place I’d think of as a desert. I mean. Downtown L.A. is a grocery store desert, but not what I’d think of as no water desert.
[QUOTE=MrDibble]
The Namib, the world’s oldest desert - coastal fog, desert elephants, Skeleton Coast, Fish River Canyon, world’s tallest active dunes…it really is an impressive place.
[/QUOTE]
Forgot about the Namib. Super spectacular. Sossusvlei, is unworldly. Yeah, J-Lo shot the unworldy shitty move The Celll there. Spectacular sand dunes, but Fish Canyon was a bit meh (we were there at dusk).
And I guess seriously, my favorite desert has to be Black Rock Desert, because of that Burning Man thing. It’s also spectacular in it’s own right.