Places Allen Thomas Wants to Go

The wild west is still alive and well at this authentic mining town watering hole.

A stealthy Apache hideaway that became the haunting site of a mass grave.

This famous Nevada gold mine, once a hotbed of Wild West shenanigans, is now open for tours.

A mining town once rife with murderous disputes over its copious treasures now creates income as a popular spot for photo shoots.

Eons ago, a rushing lava river formed this pristine passage through solid rock.

This reclusive Hopi village in Arizona has been continuously populated longer than anywhere else in America.

This Arizona observatory is famous for investigations into Martian life, and as the place humans first spotted Pluto.

The artist James Turrell is repurposing an extinct volcano crater as an observatory to experience the cosmos.

Rippling sand dunes frozen in the Arizona rock.

A small flooded ghost town with a few scattered structures remaining.

Seemingly grown on some other world, these New Mexico rock formations look like a disused science fiction set.

The ancient dwellings of the Puebloans, located in the cliffs of majestic mesas.

A breathtaking array of ancient Pueblo structures and artifacts counterintuitively preserved by neglect.

Crumbling remnants of what was once a booming town full of silver.

A phenomenal assembly of pueblos in New Mexico is the most complete example of ancient ruins north of the border.

The ruins of this abandoned fort now stand as a picturesque reminder of America's march West.

Despite time, colonization, and the brutal New Mexican heat, these Pueblo ruins still stand.