Unlike the fictional monsters of the Southwest, the Gila Monster (pronounced HEE-la) is the real thing. Gila Monsters are heavy, slow moving lizards up to 2 feet long that prefers desert terrain. They are the only venomous lizard native to the United States, and are named for the Gila River which flows through New Mexico [...]
The Albuquerque Biological Park is a terrific, kid-friendly place to enjoy while visiting the Southwest. The park is comprised of four different attractions — the Albuquerque Aquarium, the Rio Grande Botanic Garden, the Rio Grande Zoo and Tingley Beach. Linked by two narrow gauge trains — the Rio Line travels between the Aquarium & Botanic [...]
The Wave, located in the Coyote Buttes area of Utah, is a multi-colored chute that has been cut into a sandstone mountain. Brightly colored bands of sandstone twist and undulate, like Technicolor waves on the ocean, which is how it earned its name.
The hike to The Wave is, without a doubt, one of the most [...]
Covering 1.9 million acres, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is one of the largest parks in the country. This multi-hued landscape can be divided into three regions: The Canyons of Escalante, The Grand Staircase and the Kaiparowits Plateau. A geologic sampler with a huge variety of formations, features, and world-class paleontological sites, visitors will be [...]
Located on the Utah-Idaho border, beautiful Bear Lake is a popular destination for boaters, fishermen and skiers, but according to legend, it is also the home of the Bear Lake Monster. Said to be a huge snake, nearly 90 feet long, it has ears that stick out for its skinny head and a mouth big [...]
Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction, Colorado, is only 31-square miles — a tiny fraction of the huge Colorado Plateau, which covers more than 500 square miles. Yet this small section packs a mighty punch. It has some of the best redrock expanses, deep canyons and sandstone towers the Southwest has to offer. Best of [...]
When traveling in the Southwest, you will discover plenty of the geologic and landscape features that end with the word butte, mesa or plateau — for instance, Coyote Butte, Grand Mesa, Colorado Plateau. In each instance, these geologic features have a flat top surface with relatively steep sides. So if they all have flat tops [...]
The Hotel San Carlos in Phoenix, Arizona is considered one of the top haunted hotels in the United States and on a recent Saturday night my family and I took a tour of the Hotel San Carlos with Ghosts of Phoenix to see for ourselves.
The Hotel San Carlos, designed in the Renaissance Revival style, opened [...]
Often referred to as the “Heart of Colorado’s Fruit and Wine Country,” Palisade, Colorado, is world famous for its peaches. It also hosts 75% of the state’s premium wine grape vineyards. Situated at the base of the Grand Mesa on the Colorado River, Palisade is also in the center of outdoor activities in Western Colorado.
Palisade [...]
High on a cliff above the headwaters of the Gila River in southwestern New Mexico sits a series of stone dwellings tucked cleverly into alcoves. Situated 180 feet above the canyon floor, these 40 precarious perches have level plastered floors, mortared masonry walls, plastered walls, and hearths, and were home to eight or ten families [...]
