vata's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Tularosa, New Mexico

Three Rivers Petroglyph Site

More than 21,000 images fill this overlooked gem of a prehistoric site.
Taos, New Mexico

D.H. Lawrence Forbidden Art

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

Haiku Pathway

A serene garden path lined with 36 haiku stamped into clay stones.
Santa Fe, New Mexico

109 East Palace

This innocuous New Mexico storefront was once the secret jump-off spot for Manhattan Project scientists.
Chimayo, New Mexico

El Santuario de Chimayo

This popular pilgrimage site offers a hole filled with holy healing dirt.
Farmington, New Mexico

Crow Canyon Petroglyphs

One of the American Southwest's most extensive collections of Navajo rock art.
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

Spaceport America

The world's first commercial spaceport is a disappointment of cosmic proportions.
Santa Fe, New Mexico

La Cieneguilla Petroglyph Site

These Pre-Columbian petroglyphs contain representations of birds, deer, hunters, and even some early Native flute players.
Pecos, New Mexico

Pecos National Historical Park

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

Echo Amphitheater

Natural sonic phenomenon comes with a grisly legend of murder and blood.
Velarde, New Mexico

Mesa Prieta Petroglyphs

A preserve with 75,000 ancient drawings remains the realm of public – not just scientific – exploration.
Silver City, New Mexico

Gila Cliff Dwellings

These ruins of a pre-Columbian cliff village are among the most beautiful and well preserved in New Mexico.
Santa Rosa, New Mexico

Santa Rosa Blue Hole

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

The Lightning Field

In the remote high desert of New Mexico, a strange array of poles beckon fury from above.
Shiprock, New Mexico

Shiprock

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

Dwan Light Sanctuary

A futuristic temple of light uses prisms and rainbows to create an atmosphere of peace.
Nageezi, New Mexico

Chaco Culture National Historical Park

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

Earthships

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

Taos Pueblo

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

Court of Mysteries

A strange house built only at night, with rumored mystic inspiration.
San Francisco, California

San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.
Fresno, California

Forestiere Underground Gardens

An underground mansion with fruit-bearing trees and grapes growing beneath the surface of central California.
San Francisco, California

Audium Theatre of Sound-Sculptured Space

The only theatre in the world constructed specifically for sound movement.
Calipatria, California

Salvation Mountain

A hand-built folk art installation covered with messages of God's love.