The weird stuff between the big sights, in route order. None of it is essential; pick whatever fits the day.
Las Vegas (day 1–2)
Omega Mart
Meow Wolf’s installation inside the AREA15 complex, a short drive west of the Strip. It starts as a bright, slightly-off grocery store full of absurd products. Then you notice that the freezer doors, a cooler, a hole behind the shelves lead somewhere — and the “store” turns out to be the front of a big maze of rooms, tunnels and strange worlds.
- Wander freely, or follow the hidden storyline about the Dramcorp company and the town behind the store, told through documents, terminals and rooms.
- Card readers let you pick up clues as you go (check if still part of the ticket).
- Comfortable shoes; stairs, slides and tight spots.
- The shop at the start sells the fake products for real — good weird souvenirs.
- 2–3 h, timed ticket booked online. Day 1 evening if the flight lands early enough, otherwise day 2 morning. With the megachurch on the same morning it gets tight — consider a second night in Vegas.
- AREA15 itself has bars and other immersive rooms, free to walk around.
Also in Vegas
- Neon Museum Boneyard — graveyard of old casino signs. Go after dark when some are relit.
- Seven Magic Mountains — seven towers of day-glo painted boulders in the desert, ~25 min south on I‑15. Meant to be temporary; check it’s still up.
Route 66 (day 2)
- Oatman — old gold-mining town where wild burros wander the main street begging for carrots; staged gunfights. Detour south of Kingman on the twistiest stretch of old 66.
- Burma-Shave signs — sets of small red signs with a rhyming joke spread over several of them, along the road between Kingman and Seligman.
- Grand Canyon Caverns — dry cave ~60 m underground with a single “motel room” at the bottom. Expensive, but the craziest night on the route; could replace the Seligman motel. Cheaper: just do the cave tour.
- Delgadillo’s Snow Cap Drive-In, Seligman — burger stand run as a running joke: fake mustard bottle that squirts string, “Sorry, we’re open” sign, cheeseburger “with cheese”.
Navajo Nation (day 5–6)
- Moenave dinosaur tracks near Tuba City, right off US‑160 — real dinosaur footprints in the rock. Local Navajo guides walk you around for a tip.
- Burger King, Kayenta — a small exhibit about the WWII Navajo Code Talkers inside a fast-food restaurant. Lunch stop on the way to Monument Valley.
Monument Valley → Moab (day 7)
- Mexican Hat — a rock balanced like a sombrero on a pedestal, next to US‑163.
- Moki Dugway (optional) — gravel switchbacks cut into a 300 m cliff, no guardrails. Taking UT‑261 north instead of US‑163 adds it plus Valley of the Gods. Check the rental contract about gravel roads.
- Hole N” The Rock — 14-room house carved into a sandstone cliff south of Moab, with taxidermy, odd art and a small petting zoo.
The long drive north (day 8)
- Bear Lake — turquoise lake on the Utah–Idaho border; raspberry shake stands in Garden City. Good break on the long day.
- Afton, Wyoming — arch over the highway built from thousands of elk antlers, said to be the largest of its kind.
Jackson (day 9)
- Town Square antler arches — one on each corner, rebuilt from antlers shed in the nearby elk refuge.
Salt Lake City (day 11)
- Gilgal Sculpture Garden — tiny hidden garden in a residential block. One man’s religious stone sculptures, including a sphinx with Joseph Smith’s face. Free, very strange.
- Spiral Jetty — Robert Smithson’s land-art spiral in the pink water of the Great Salt Lake, at the end of a long dirt road ~2.5 h north. Only with an extra half day.
Check before going
Opening hours, prices, and whether each place still exists — roadside attractions come and go.