Amazing Destinations Magazine Autumn 2021

AMERICAN BEAUTY
Weird and Wonderful
1. Fly into Albuquerque, good for
buying jewellery and art, and full
of gorgeous B&Bs with palm trees,
sun terraces overlooking the desert
and Native American folk art and
blankets. See bedandbreakfast.com/
new-mexico for a list. Desert Harbour is
off-grid, simply stylish, with outdoor fire
pits and massages, for $145 a night.
2. State capital Santa Fe is a quirky
former mining town with bizarre
museums and diners.
3. Hot springs are a big deal in New
Mexico. Many have spa resorts built
around them, but for a list of natural
ones, such as those in the Jemez
mountains, see newmexico.org/things-todo/health-wellness.
4. Farmington is a good base for visiting
Native American tribes (Navajo, Jicarilla
Apache, Southern Ute, Ute Mountain
Ute and Hopi, see farmingtonnm.org);
the Aztec Ruins national monument has
structures built by the Aztecs 900 years
ago. Nearby, Kokopelli’s Cave B&B
(bbonline.com/united-states/newmexico/farmington/kokopelli,
from
$260) is carved out of the sandstone cliff
NEW MEXICO TO LA
and has one bedroom – plus a hot tub.
5. Grand Staircase-Escalante national
monument (utah.com/nationalsites/
grand_staircase) just over the border
in Utah is 1.7m acres of multicoloured
rocks and canyons.
6. Dare to hike Zion national park’s (nps.
gov/zion) terrifying Angels Landing, and
you’ll need a margarita in the cool sunny
town of Springdale nearby.
7. Bryce Canyon’s (nps.gov/brca/index)
incredible “hoodoo” rock formations are
bewitching.
8 & 9. Before visiting the Grand
Canyon stay in a cabin among
ponderosa pines near Flagstaff, Arizona
(see flagstaffarizona.org/staying_
bed-breakfast for a list), and visit
the Wupatki National Monument – an
important tribal crossroads for thousands
of years – the Museum of Northern
Arizona for Native American artefacts,
and the Lowell Observatory.
10. Kingman (gokingman.com) is known
as the “heart of historic route 66”,
with a museum dedicated to the route.
You could detour into Mojave national
preservefrom here.
11. Joshua Tree national park to stretch
your legs, and a stop in Twentynine
Palms, a cool quirky town. The 29 Palms
Inn (29palmsinn.com, from $95) has a
pool and 1930s cabins.
12. Palm Springs is the sleepy kitsch
nostalgic desert city of your dreams,
with amazing places to stay such as
the new Saguaro (jdvhotels.com, from
$170) and a great midcentury modern
architecture tour by Robert Imber
(palmspringsmoderntours.com). On
20-21 and 27-28 October the Highway
62 Art Tours (hwy62arttours.com) opens
studios of 100 local artists.
13. Los Angeles – eat, shop and star-spot
for as long as you have left.
1,583 miles, 30 hours’ driving, 2½ weeks
minimum
The Grand Canyon: The only one of the Seven Natural
Wonders of the World to be located in North America
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