The old Route 66 town straddling Texas and New Mexico died along with the Main Street of America.

A clear blue swimming hole with hidden caves, still unexplored.

Life-sized sculpture of a blue whale made of hand-recycled plastic trash.

An immersive environment that is part haunted house, part choose-your-own-adventure, and part jungle gym.

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

Reproductions of nine banned oil paintings coyly hidden behind a curtain in a New Mexico conference room.

Taos Pueblo recipes, foraged ingredients, and outdoor ovens define the menu at this eatery.

A multi-storied adobe complex has been inhabited for more than a thousand years.

The land is full of geologic eye candy, such as otherworldly spires, mushroom-shaped hoodoos, and prehistoric fossils.

Legends surround this jagged rock formation in the New Mexico desert.

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

These aggressively sustainable art homes look like something out of 1970's science fiction.

One man’s passion for gas stations is on display along the Rio Grande in northern New Mexico.

Seller of surplus nuclear research materials.

One man has carved a number of natural New Mexico caves into psychedelic sandstone temples.

The building stands within a quiet, postcard-perfect New Mexico village.

This quirky outpost and gallery inside a former church is an unexpected trove of handcrafted art.

A little stop along the Texas highway where Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean stayed while shooting the 1955 film "Giant."

With print dying, this local paper keeps the lights on by doubling as a stunning cafe and cocktail bar.

Museum mostly in name, and only a restaurant depending on the day, this place could only exist in Marfa.

Not everything is bigger in Texas.

A World War II officers' club features Old West murals painted by German POWs.

Minimalist modern art on a repurposed military base in rural Texas.

Steep canyon walls hide a forested oasis in the West Texas desert.