I happen to think that sagebrush flats are pretty (even if I am allergic to sagebrush). Spent the first 18 years of my life looking out the back windows of the house toward the Colorado front range, or out the front to Kansas. Never did really appreciate how special that view was.
In 1972, at age 22, a friend and I took our first long road trip out of TN to the west. Over 6 week, living out of a VW van (hippies, mostly), we visited several national parks, state parks and national forests in CO, WY, ID and UT. We were drawn mostly by the Rockies, but once west of them, eventually saw the spectacular beauty of desert and steppe.
That process began at a little state park near Pocatello ID, our first real exposure to (what I now know is) Great Basin desert. We drove in in mid afternoon under a blazing July sun. Nothing but (IIRC) sage brush and juniper. We pulled up to the ranger station to pay for a camp site. The ranger was a young guy -- looked college grad. He was mopping the floor of a really nice tone building --station and museum -- that seemed to just blend into the landscape; IIRC, it was built with local stones.
We asked him, "This place looks desolate. What's here? Why do people come here?"
I don't remember his exact words, but they very sarcastic. Something that could be translated to, "you're right; there's nothing here at all; it's ugly as hell; why don't you guys just leave".
We apologized, and explained we're from back east, just didn't know anything.
He took our money for a camp site and said something like, "Be mindful of this place at sundown. Watch the light."
We didn't know what he meant, but thanked him. We set up camp and started cooking the night's meal.
Indeed, starting just before sundown, as the sun was sinking behind the mountains, taking the landscape out of the harsh sunlight, the place became magical. No other word for it. The air cooled, a breeze blew, and the colors of the plants and rocks under a deep blue sky just blew us away.
Next morning, we swung by the station, and said, "Ok, we get it now.
"
I've been a desert rat and desert lover ever since (current home state not reflecting that very well).