Just add sagebrush and you got the desert southwest!
In my travels around this area of the country, I've never seen an area that looks like this before. We don't have sand... (except for the "dune" area where there are no rocks mixed in like there is in that photo http://www.danheller.com/mon-val-dunes.html ) I'm not saying I've seen EVERY area around the south west... But I've sure driven alot of it.
Andrew