Everything OddWay knows about. Narrow it down by what you're after, or where you're going.
Giant objects, odd monuments and things built for no clear reason.
Taos, NM
A steel deck bridge crosses nearly 600 feet above the Rio Grande gorge, creating one of New Mexico's most dramatic roadside viewpoints. Use designated parking and pedestrian areas rather than stopping unsafely on the roadway.
Deming, NM
Unlike most parks, Rockhound historically encouraged visitors to search designated areas for jasper, quartz and other minerals under current state rules. The park's identity is built directly around the geology underfoot.
Roswell, NM
Artist Larry Welz built this black-light walk-through from recycled, found and donated materials, turning a downtown storefront into a glowing alien landscape. It is part UFO attraction, part handmade art environment.
Tucumcari, NM
Tom Coffin's sculptural Route 66 monument uses the rear half of a classic car rising from a stylized roadway. It sits outside the convention center and functions as one of Tucumcari's easiest roadside photo stops.
Grants, NM
A high sandstone rim overlooks black lava flows and distant volcanic cones across El Malpais. The contrast between pale cliff and dark lava creates one of the clearest overviews of the volcanic landscape.
Carlsbad, NM
A spring-fed waterfall and clear pools appear unexpectedly in a dry canyon west of Carlsbad. Seasonal water conditions, fire restrictions and capacity limits can affect access, making it a check-ahead desert-oasis stop.
Tucumcari, NM
A concrete teepee entrance and vintage neon mark this surviving Route 66 curio shop. The building began as a gas station and now functions as a compact piece of roadside architecture and souvenir culture.
Sandia Park, NM
Ross Ward spent decades building an enormous hand-carved miniature town, animated circus and collection of eccentric objects inside walls studded with bottles. The museum is seasonal and in 2026 operates during its posted spring-through-fall season.
Roswell, NM
Roswell's downtown McDonald's is shaped and decorated to resemble a flying saucer, complete with space-themed exterior details. It is a functioning restaurant, but the building itself has become part of the city's alien-roadside landscape.
Jemez Springs, NM
A vast volcanic caldera more than a dozen miles across holds grasslands, elk herds and volcanic domes inside the Jemez Mountains. Vehicle access beyond the entrance area can be seasonal or reservation-dependent.
Carrizozo, NM
A black lava flow cuts across the Tularosa Basin like a frozen river of rock. The Malpais Nature Trail lets visitors walk directly over a flow created roughly 5,000 years ago, an unusually young landscape by geologic standards.
Socorro, NM
Twenty-seven giant radio antennas spread across the Plains of San Agustin and move along railroad tracks to change the telescope's configuration. The visitor route makes one of America's most recognizable scientific landscapes accessible without entering operations areas.
Albuquerque, NM
Trails circle extinct cinder cones that produced the basalt escarpment now covered in Albuquerque's petroglyphs. The overlook connects the city's volcanic geology directly with the cultural landscape below.
Albuquerque, NM
A modern Route 66 visitor center on Albuquerque's west side uses local exhibits, public art and event space to interpret the historic highway. It works as a useful orientation stop before exploring older neon and roadside remnants.
Alamogordo, NM
The world's largest gypsum dunefield creates a landscape that resembles snow despite lying in the Chihuahuan Desert. Dunes Drive begins at the historic visitor center and leads directly into miles of brilliant white gypsum.
Las Cruces, NM
A roughly 47-foot chile pepper towers beside a motel in Las Cruces as an exaggerated tribute to southern New Mexico's chile culture. It can be photographed from lawful public or customer-access areas without entering private guest spaces.
Alamogordo, NM
A giant concrete pistachio rises outside PistachioLand as an intentionally oversized monument to the local nut crop. The sculpture is one of southern New Mexico's most recognizable classic roadside photo stops.
