Last question about driving in the American Southwest

I'm not all that great with searching the net, but have given this one a good, lengthy attempt, and with no success.

I am trying to find a list of scenic overlooks on the interstate highways.  I don't mean the places where you can get petrol and coffee, I found that one already.  You can do point and click and have it come up under Google maps.  I would call those places 'rest stops'.

I'm talking about scenic overlooks, a type of non-commercial place set aside by the American Interstate authorities where you can pull over and check out a spectacular piece of scenery.  Purple mountain's majesty.  Amber waves of grain and that sort of thing.  I have it in mind to do something like a picnic.

I have always taken these for granted and never considered them as destinational spots in their own right.  Logic informs me there *must* be a list of them somewhere.  But I'm completely foxed. 

Does anyone know if there's an actual list of them?  Where to find it?

not sure if this is what you are looking for?  maybe check it out and see if it has something that your looking for

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/location/

on the left hand side they have a list of all the states and if u click on a state it takes u to that site...once you are on that states site on the right hand side it has a box that says landmarks and oddities list...if you click on the complete list you get all the places in that state......hope it helps a bit and sorry if it doesn't......

What an amazing site.  Thanks for this link.  I'm going to be looking at this site for a while now...

I can't think of anywhere where they are listed, but I'm a Southwest girl myself, and my favourite trips are the ones where I gave myself a little time, didn't just plan it all out, but just hit the road and watched the signs, stopping if anything caught my eye.  I had an absolute ball once that way travelling through New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah.  I saw Native pueblos, petroglyphs, national parks galore, etc.  I also discovered a load of funny little burrito stands where I may have eaten the family dog, but oh, it tasted so good and funny little back road history spots that I never noticed before.  I had been doing the drive through the desert for my whole life, but never seen those spots before.  

I would say, don't stress about planning it.  Get stuff for a picnic, and you will probably find some great spots just by following your gut--even if you don't, you'll have funny stories to tell about the odd spots you stopped when you ended up on some odd road that went nowhere  I'm so jealous.  Say hi to home for me.  I would really give anything to go back right now.  

What an amazing site.  Thanks for this link.  I'm going to be looking at this site for a while now...

Have to second this--what a fun site!  I lived in Idaho before I came, so I looked that up and found some of the funny, quirky places I had enjoyed that aren't usually highlighted for tourists.  I love this kind of stuff.

The one I'd never heard of that cracked me up? The Oasis Bordello Museum--yes, that's right.  I assumed it was an old west thing, but it seems it was an operating brothel until the early 80s when the girls fled b/c they thought the FBI was going to crack down on them.  The owners kept the place exactly as it was (down to the JC Penney catalogues and the soaps and bubble bath products that were there).  Now it's a museum to what the lonely men in that Idaho town could get for $20 when they got a little lonely in the 80s! 

And if you get homesick while visiting AZ: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/14232

And if you get homesick while visiting AZ: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/14232

Crikey.  Who knows what they will dream up next.  Thanks for this link too! 

It's a long way down the holiday road.

http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/recreation/autotour/verm_cliffs.html

http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/recreation/autotour/verm_cliffs.html

This one lists scenic overlooks.  But it seems they are also calling them 'pull outs'.  Vocabulary is key.  Thanks for the link too.

Getting back to everybody on this...

Interstate 15 in the southbound direction from Las Vegas to LA:  There are two of them.  Count 'em.  One.  Two.  And that's that.

And the second one is closed for repairs.  What is there to repair about a scenic overlook?  Adjust the scenery a little bit?  Anyway it was closed for repairs.

What we DID do was something improvised, just take any random exit from the Interstate that leads into the desert.  Then stop and take some pictures and walk around a bit.  This worked out fine except for a faint nagging feeling of solitude vis-a-vis the possibility of mad men murderers living in the desert who might spot us.

But all-in-all, I think a motor trip through the American southwest is a great way to reconnect with America.

What we DID do was something improvised, just take any random exit from the Interstate that leads into the desert.  Then stop and take some pictures and walk around a bit.  This worked out fine except for a faint nagging feeling of solitude vis-a-vis the possibility of mad men murderers living in the desert who might spot us.

I would have been more worried about coming across a half buried body. You never know!

Glad you had a good time.

I would have been more worried about coming across a half buried body. You never know!

No Country for Old Men!!!