Places Allen Thomas Wants to Go

Giant telescope mirrors built in a spinning furnace under a college football stadium.

A mistaken marker makes an erroneous claim along the historic Old Divide Road.

This isolated outpost was once the only place to cross the Colorado River for hundreds of miles.

A monument to the one-armed geologist who led the first documented expeditions through the Grand Canyon.

The stone-covered graves lie within the ruins of an Old West ghost town.

The largest copper mine in Arizona, this enormous open pit emerges from the hills like an alien landscape.

Hidden on a cattle ranch in Arizona, this bookstore has been celebrating Southwest literature for more than 40 years.

These mid-century motels once housed the workers who built the Glen Canyon Dam.

An off-the-beaten path cave with an underground lake.

One of the final grand railway depot hotel complexes is slowly being restored to its former glory.

This remote desert watering hole has a connection to a curious chapter of American history.

This scrap yard doubles as a naive art gallery full of found art and farm animals.

This ancient trail has claimed the lives of over 2,000 people.

This abandoned bootleg attraction was built to cash in on the popularity of classic TV show, F Troop.

The state's only comprehensive museum dedicated to the mineral that defined its history and economy.

Rumor had it that these concrete crosses scattered across the Arizona scrubland helped align spy satellites. (They didn’t.)

Stairs often replace streets on the steep slopes of this old mining town.

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

One of the oldest Mexican restaurants in the United States air-dries its trademark beef in a dangling outdoor cage.

The remains of this rugged homestead ranch offer a brief glimpse into a bygone era.

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

This Old West prison built into the side of a cliff was said to be inescapable.

The shop's owner has spent decades in the desert wearing nothing but a strategically placed sock.

More than 300 years ago, a revolt at this Hopi pueblo shaped the future of the American Southwest.