Road trips heading east of Allen, like over to Arizona or Nevada, are opportunities for date shakes. On recent trips to Las Vegas and Phoenix I added two new date shake stops to my list.
On the Road to Vegas
Cima Mining Company is now on the list and highly ranked. They make a great date shake.. It’s a well balanced and basic no frills affair – vanilla ice cream, dates and milk.
They don’t skimp on anything. You get lots of ice cream and a nice blend of dates. All in all an excellent date shake experience and well worth a stop.
Cima Mining is on the 15 about mid-way between Baker and Primm. That’s a pretty desolate stretch and you can’t miss the many “date shake” signs along the road. When it comes to the date shake experience, abundant road signs are a plus.
This place is so remote you have to wonder where the workers live. Kind of a shack of a place but looks are deceiving. Inside this is the little store that could. They have lots of interesting stuff from desert history, rocks, a wall of different soda pops and hot sauces and their own chicken recipe.
We don’t get out to Vegas often, but Cima Mining will be a required stop when we do.
On the Road to Phoenex
If you are headed out the 10 toward Phoenix, you have a lot of options.
Of course, the first date shake stop is at Cabazon for Hadleys. Once just a roadside fruit stand, they’re part of date shake history. But, the Hadley’s shake now comes out of a machine and has an airy mass-produced texture Worth a date shake stop but no longer a full-fledged roadside date shake experience.
That brings me to Windmill Market in North Palm Springs.
We found this place in a search for an alternative to Hadleys. A two hour drive from east Pasadena, you take the 10 and get off at exit 117 toward 29 Palms/Yucca Valley. It’s a bit of a drive off the 10, but still a good stop for date shakes and more.
They claim to have the best date shake in the desert. No question this is a great shake. Similar to the shake at Cima, lots of ice cream and real dates mixed in good proportion.
And, like Cima, Windmill Market is a fun stop with an engaging staff. A gentleman behind the counter (I think the owner) talked about the intricacies of a good date shake and promoted the windmill tour. We haven’t yet done the tour but will be back for the great date shakes.
Also worth mentioning is Great Shakes in Palm Springs. Located on Palm Canyon Drive in the middle of a ritzy commercial district, they make gourmet milk shakes. They have a passable date shake but are more of a high-end establishment offering many different varieties. The glitz and glamour of Palm Canyon Drive is interesting to see but not the kind of setting for a true on the road date shake experience.
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