Western Colorado and Eastern Utah is amazing also. I love the SW US because it IS so unpredictable as to what you'll see during any given drive. parts of arizona are real nice as well, Havasu and Sedona especially. there are some great spas in NM too. The only state that sucks to drive through is Texas. Nothing but oil fields and prairie. Luckily you probably only drove through the top hat of TX, only about a few hours drive. The rest of TX really is boring. Next stop should be the Pacific and Mountain NW US. Beautiful forests and great mountains. Real good stuff.