The Beauty of Nothing: Road Trip Through the American Southwest

The southwestern region of the United States has a reputation for being a bit…barren.

And it is–but in the best way possible. The vast emptiness–the mind-blowingly open space–is in my opinion what makes the southwest so absolutely freaking beautiful.

One of my favorite travel memories is a family road trip we took at the end of last summer, from Houston, Texas all the way to Sedona, Arizona (exactly 1234 miles from city center to city center!)

We spent the first part of the trip traveling fairly quickly, making stops in Carlsbad, Roswell, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque within the first few days, and spending the greatest amount of time in Sedona and the Grand Canyon.

During this trip, we passed the widest assortment of landscapes and environments: forested hills, grassy plains, barren deserts, rocky mountains, and red rock cliffs. It got me thinking about how big the United States is, as well as how beautiful it is. As many amazing sights as I’ve seen abroad, the scenery that we passed that week was no doubt just as unique and just as beautiful. I can’t think of anywhere else in the world I’ve been where you could drive for miles and miles, and hours and hours and not see one single soul–not a car, not a person, not even a tree. Just flat, empty land wherever you look. It was a side of the States that I had never seen before, having grown up on the East Coast–and it was almost surreal.

I had never before seen such endless, flat plains. Nothing but blue skies and the horizon, no matter which way you looked. There were almost no towns or other cars during this trip. So strange!

We stopped by Carlsbad Caverns in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico. They were some of the coolest caves I’ve ever seen, and they were huge! But, they confirmed my suspicions that I am decidedly an above-ground kind of girl–after a while underground, I was ready to get back on the open roads and be surrounded by blue skies and endless plains again.

We also stopped by Roswell, New Mexico, a city known for its connection to aliens and UFO crash landing sites. There’s not much to see here other than all things alien-themed. Tacky souvenir shops, restaurants, and public art all center on the UFO stories and conspiracy theories that put this place on the map in 1947. We made a quick stop here, and were soon back on the open roads and traveling through no man’s land.

Of course, you know I can’t stay away from the cities long! We had one full day to explore Santa Fe, “The City Different.” And different it sure was! We visited art galleries, farmers markets, colonial-style churches and chocolate shops.

Seriously, any city that takes chocolate and farmers market food as seriously as Santa Fe is a 10/10 in my book. Needless to say, I was in love.

As we made our way across New Mexico, cruising the empty highways in the middle of nowhere, we were surprised to see an elderly man on a motorized scooter decked out with flags and signs making his way down the other side of the road. As my stepmom put it “That’s just too weird to ignore”–so we made a quick u-turn and pulled over to have a chat.

Turns out, the man–Raymond M. Black–had quite the interesting story to tell. He had set out on a solo cross-country scooter journey from Utah to Florida, in order to raise money and awareness for Vietnam War veterans.

Definitely not what you expect to see on the side of the road after hours of driving without passing another living soul! We wished Mr. Black luck on his journey, left him with some of our extra water bottles, and bid him adieu.

As we journeyed west, the terrain slooowly began to increase in elevation. Rocky peaks and rough cliffs began to appear across the grassy plains.

Our next official stop was the Petrified Forest…which, if you haven’t guessed based on the preceding scenery, is not a forest in any sense of the word.

I still remember the sense of awe I felt as we drove through the Petrified Forest. I was absolutely captivated. I kept having to remind myself that this was my country, that we were still in the United States and not on some foreign, sterile planet. I’ve always had a tendency to prefer rugged landscapes over perfectly polished ones–for me, a scene doesn’t have to be flawless, polished, or luxurious to be beautiful–it just has to be unique. And I don’t think it gets much more unique than this!

Possibly the most unexpected sight on our road trip (aside from the 71-year old veteran scootering across the plains) was when thickly forested hills came into view. It was such a sudden change–and so drastic from the majority of our trip.

The sheer greenery didn’t last long, and eventually the landscape gave way to the sights we had been aiming for: red rocks.

Our ultimate destination, Sedona, greeted us with colorful sandstone cliffs, scrubby trees, and the bluest skies I’ve ever seen. It reminded me yet again that there was so much to be seen within the United States–so much wild beauty to be appreciated.

Traveling to foreign lands is one of my favorite things in the world…but this road trip helped me discover that my own land was pretty damn great as well. The rest of the world may have us beat on historic sites and charming old towns, but if there’s one thing the United States excels at, it’s wide, wide, wide open spaces.

Have you ever traveled to the American Southwest? What’s the most epic road trip you’ve ever taken?

Note: Normally all photos shared on this blog are my own, but these particular pictures come (mostly) from our family camera, which means that while I did take a few of these photos, most of them were taken by my step-mom, and some likely by my dad and both of my sisters as well.