Desert Oasis
Any desert oasis is a place of refuge in the middle of an inhospitable land. It can be something as simple as a small pond filled with water after a rain, to a cavern into which water constantly flows such as is found at Montezuma’s Well in Arizona. People have that image from the movies of a hallucination giving travelers false hope.
Richard J. Hintin first spoke of Montezuma’s Well in his Handbook to Arizona published in 1878. However, someone else wrote about it a long time before that. In 1583 a Spaniard named Antonio de Espejo wrote of ditch running from a pond to an abandoned pueblo. Some people believe this described Montezuma’s Well. 1,000,000 gallons of water flows into this well each day. The source of all this water is unknown.
Many other restful types of places have taken on the name oasis. One such is the Desert Oasis RV Park and Sand Dune Resort in Idaho. This park is only open from May through September. 72 campsites and miles of sand dunes make for a fun and exciting combination.
Some caves have their own interesting story. They were formed by cooling lava. They snake underground for miles and miles, going wherever the lava was able to flow. A little known fact is that lava is a great insulator. That keeps the caves cool even in the summer. Take a sweater if you visit.
Other popular recipients of the oasis name are hotels. One such is the Sheraton Desert Oasis in Scottsdale Arizona. The Sonaran desert is its home. There is a lot to do there. Explore the desert, or even visit a horse show. Make sure to bring water.
So it seems an oasis can be many different things.
