Places bjmcdonnell Wants to Go

The largest man-made crater in the U.S. marks the spot where we once tested mining with nukes.

The world's first commercial spaceport is a disappointment of cosmic proportions.

Bootleggers ran booze beneath this building before (and after) Route 66 appeared beside it.

A small canyon with petroglyphs and a seasonal waterfall, only a short hike from the remnants of old Route 66.

On a barren hillside in the Yucca Valley, the recently restored Desert Christ Park has attracted pilgrims and kitsch hunters for over 50 years.

Setting this massive marionette aflame rids Santa Fe of doom and gloom for another year.

A partial tunnel blasted into a steep ridge is all that remains of a failed railway across Arizona.

This frozen tunnel in central Alaska is both an engineering feat and a valuable climate classroom.

A half-acre utopia in the New Mexico desert features a graveyard, a game of horseshoes, a library, and a mailbox.

A pair of giant roadside arrows are all that remains of a former Route 66 trading post.

The only building in Louisville (hopefully) that contains two ancient holy skeletons.

This popular pilgrimage site offers a hole filled with holy healing dirt.

The graffiti-covered remnants of a former triangulation station are balanced precariously on this California peak.

World's only nuclear reactor operated by liberal arts undergraduates.

This volcano rises like a giant anthill from the plains below, with a road spiraling up to the rim.

Twelve plaster figures inspired by da Vinci's famed painting haunt the desert landscape above a real-life ghost town.

Happy harbor seals frolic and snooze on this warm, sandy stretch of coast.

Sasqu(w)atch out!

Millions of years of oxidation make a drive down this winding Death Valley road surprisingly colorful.

If you want to take a peek at Area 51, this is legally as close as you're going to get.

This pseudo-steampunk weapons facility is the world's largest wood and glue structure, and packs quite a wallop.

The highest point in Arizona is an oddly snow-topped peak within the otherwise arid state.

Eternal resting place of the grave robber and murderer who served as inspiration for many of cinema’s famous madmen.

Mysterious meeting place for UFO hunters near Area 51.