Southwest USAs Best Trips

BEST SOUTHWEST USAS TRIPS

Youve stuffed the car with sunscreen, Frisbee, cooler, water sandals, hiking boots and hats. Youve turned down your hot-water heater, put the lights on a timer and, yes, the neighbor will remember to water the plants. You have this book in hand, a plan and, most comforting of all, that womans voice in your GPS.

But this is the land of cowboys and Indians, miners and mountain men, small desert towns of adobe and sprawling cities of neon, dry winds and searing skies, red rock canyons, coyotes and sagebrush. This is Thelma and Louises road, Jack Kerouacs mad road, lonely, leading around the bend into the openings of space towards the horizon.

We can tell you where to go and what to do, and, from Sin City to Santa Fe, from high country rambles to screaming rapids, theres a lot to recommend. But, in the end, the best part of the iconic American Southwest is losing yourself in its Nothing.

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You drive the desert highway at twilight, cheeks still hot from the days sun, lips chapped. Its quiet, finally cooler, and you open the window. When youve had your fill of the silence, you reach down and turn on your music.

New Mexico Rain, Bill and Bonnie Hearne

Cant Help But Wonder Where Im Bound, Nanci Griffith

The Painted Desert, 10,000 Maniacs

Albuquerque, Neil Young

Atomic Power, Uncle Tupelo

The Gambler, Kenny Rogers

Wide Open Spaces, Dixie Chicks

New Mexico, Johnny Cash

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TRIP 1

WHY GO Las Vegas is a wild ride. It doesnt matter if you play the penny slots, lay down a bankroll on the poker tables or never gamble at all youll leave this town feeling like youve just had the time of your life. Guaranteed.

According to Hollywood legend, the day mobster Bugsy Siegel drove from LA into the Mojave Desert and decided to finish raising a glamorous, tropical-themed casino under the searing sun, all there was here were some ramshackle gambling houses, tumbleweeds and cacti. Nobody thought anyone would ever come here. But everybody couldnt have been more wrong, baby.

Today, Las Vegas welcomes more visitors each year than the holy city of Mecca. Admittedly, its tourist traps, especially on the infamous Strip, are nonstop party zones. But scratch beneath the surface, and youll find Sin City has much more on tap than just gambling, booze and cheap thrills. There are as many different faces to Nevadas biggest metropolis as there are Elvis impersonators or wedding chapels here.

Sprawled immodestly along Las Vegas Blvd, the Strip is a never-ending spectacle, especially at night with all of its neon lights blazing. Ever since Bugsys Flamingo casino hotel upped the ante back in 1946, casino hotels have competed to dream up the next big thing, no matter how gimmicky. You can be mesmerized by the dancing fountain show outside of the Bellagio, an exploding faux-Polynesian volcano in a lagoon fronting the Mirage, singing gondoliers plying the artificial canals of the Venetian or sexy pirates in a mock battle of the sexes with pyrotechnics galore at TI (Treasure Island). Rise above the Strips madness inside glass elevators shooting up the half-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas, or ascend the 110-story Stratosphere Tower, where the worlds highest thrill rides await.

All of this showy stuff is old hat for Las Vegas. This century-old city is quickly metamorphosing into a sophisticated but still sexy and sybaritic destination. Boutique hotels within casino resorts (for example, the Signature Suites at MGM Grand), star chefs restaurants (including a recent invasion of high-flying French folk: witness CityCenters Twist by Pierre Gagnaire), and indulgent spas such as Spa at Aria, also at CityCenter, with Japanese-style stone sauna beds and a therapy room made of illuminated salt bricks, are what hip, younger crowds demand. Ironically, this polish and sophistication hearken back to Old Vegas heyday in the Fabulous 50s, when mobsters mixed with Rat Pack movie stars and even showgirls dressed in diamonds and silk to just step inside a casino. The most decadent high-roller casino resorts such as Palazzo and Wynn Las Vegas each have their own galaxy of catwalk couture shops, epicurean restaurants and entertaining diversions, from Broadway shows to nightclubs on par with LA or NYC. To gawk at the VIPs, stroll through the front doors anytime theyre free, and they never close.

You can still find the kitschier and oh-so-cheesy side of Las Vegas. After all, this is the city that brought fame and fortune to flamboyant Liberace, and staged a 1969 comeback show for Elvis outfitted in a rhinestone-studded jumpsuit. Pay your respects at the outrageous Liberace Museum, stuffed with hand-painted antique pianos, luxury cars including a mirror-tiled Rolls Royce, and a collection of feathered capes and million-dollar furs. Elvis has indeed left the building, but you can still play blackjack with the King at the Imperial Palace, where dealertainers do double duty as casino card dealers and celebrity impersonators. Speaking of casinos, theres none tackier than the 1960s