A fantastic 1930s home and Indian artifact collection located in the high desert near the far northern border of L.A. County, the Antelope Valley Indian Museum is hands down our strangest state park. From the outside, it looks like sort of a desert chateau, while the interior is partly carved out of rock, and practically every inch of the ceiling and beams has been painted in colorful designs. The Southwest Museum may have the “better” collection, according to scholars, but these Great Basin Indian objects are in a more unusual setting, as their hand-built, hand-painted display cases and signs remain unchanged since their creation in the late 1920s and '30s. You get to clamber through oddly shaped passageways and climb into a loft that is part gallery and part cave, punctuated here and there with tiny windows cut into the rock, which let in sunlight. The ground floor sports shelves full of vintage katsinas, baskets, dolls, blankets and other curiosities. Weird, wonderful and dreamlike, the museum makes a great centerpiece for a high-desert field trip. 15701 E. Avenue M, Lancaster, 93535. (661) 946-3055, avim.parks.ca.gov. —Suzy Beal

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