Places ruftoncastle Wants to Go

A sculpture of a flying hawk made from colorful car doors.

A one-of-a-kind sundial at the Very Large Array honors a radio astronomy pioneer, incorporating the original piers from his breakthrough radio telescope.

This bird-shaped rock formation defies gravity, time, and classification.

The official atomic museum of the United States explores the explosive and productive history of a much maligned energy source.

Albuquerque found the perfect use for tumbleweeds at Christmastime.

Apparently, the whole cosmos emanates from this plain concrete tower.

This historic stone barn is the former home of legendary cattleman Charles “Lonesome Dove” Goodnight.

The narrow mountain road that carves a path between Florence and Victor is tied to ghost towns and ghost stories.

Meet Rita the Rock Planter, one of Danish sculptor Thomas Dambo's enormous wooden trolls.

The moving metal works of one troubled artist can still be viewed on his front lawn... for now.

A short tunnel built straight through a magmatic dike.

A six-ton, 12-foot-tall concrete prairie dog is touted as the largest in the world.

A roadside collection of over-sized iron creations that are a bit more macabre than most.

The world's largest Holstein cow.

This museum glorifies the humble potato.

The hallowed remains of a 900-year old Ancestral Pueblo great house.

Home to the deepest rift anywhere on Earth.

This town is home to the world’s largest arch constructed entirely of elk antlers.

One of America's largest retail chains got its start in one of its most remote rural destinations.

Plaque commemorating the location of a underground nuclear bomb test in the 1970s.

The site where a nuclear bomb was lowered over 8,000 feet underground and detonated as an experiment in natural gas extraction.

A coal fire has been burning underground here since 1896.