Medjool Date Palm Tree. iStock.

DATELAND — It turns out that there is a definite connection between royalty and date milk shakes. Milk shake consumers from around the world make that discovery when they visit the Dateland Travel Center, one of the few stop-offs between Gila Bend and Yuma. The center includes a gift shop, 300 date-producing palm trees and, most importantly, a restaurant that makes date milk shakes.

Medjool Date. Photo Credit: J.P.Lon

The shakes are made only with medjool dates because other dates have thicker skins that clog up the straws used to slurp up the delicacy.

And, historians claim, medjool dates were always reserved for Middle Eastern royalty long before they were imported to the United States. So now, those who want to get that regal feeling while consuming pureed dates can get it at the center, located at Milepost 67 on Interstate 8.