Places HootEye Wants to Go

America's most famous piece of self-built architecture.

This giant spider sculpture made from the iconic car is one giant visual pun.

Hidden deep in the Joshua Tree Wilderness, this 1940s miner's cabin built into a gap between two mega-sized boulders.

A wondrous place to watch a special flower bloom.

This outdoor observatory offers stellar views and a scale model of our solar system.

Crumbling pink walls and murder memorials preserve the pioneer history of Joshua Tree.

The decaying adobe remains of an old homestead are just off the beaten path in Joshua Tree National Park.

Located on 420 acres in the high desert, this spiritual center is dedicated to the "science of the future."

Meet 'Big Josh,' the 20-foot-tall muffler man.

While exploring the desert, you can stop by the home of a fictional heretic from a parallel universe.

A desert community’s history is captured by this collection of artifacts and memorabilia.

This strangely vacant Western amusement seems to be an empty tribute to residents of Lucerne Valley.

Brightly colored 30-foot-tall totems light up the desert sky just outside Las Vegas.

This mostly abandoned shopping outlet is now adorned with beautiful graffiti and murals.

Nationwide network of co-ownership underground catastrophe shelters.

A desert ghost town—occupied for only 12 years—was once home to more than 500 silver mines.

Like a kitschy mirage in the Mojave, this eatery serves up classic 50s-style diner meals and a dinosaur sculpture garden.

The "Fun Spot of the Desert" is now a haunting ruin, and a reminder that putting a water park in a desert is a bad idea.

This large pile of traveler-curated rocks by the dry lakebed is a longstanding tradition on the Old Mojave Road.

A former utopian healing center created by a huckster and built by derelicts.

Artist Jack Pierson made this surreal sculpture in honor of Wonder Valley, a countercultural community on edge of civilization.

While you're unlikely to find riches here these days, this remote mine is a time capsule of the Gold Rush era.

This small, nautical gift shop is home to a 500-pound behemoth.

Strange physical sensations and optical contradictions keep visitors coming back for more.