Places emilyjhandy Wants to Go

Train cars and railroad artifacts abound at this restaurant devoted to railway history.

This is not your typical jungle gym.

Less a museum than a bizarre fantasy world created by artists and engineers.

According to local legend, a tree grew from the stake that killed this alleged vampire. In reality, he probably died from influenza.

One of few remaining antique carousels with stationary animals in the U.S.

A collection of over 15,000 zines works to preserve DIY publishing culture.

An architect in Aspen used psychedelics as his muse while building this mushroom masterpiece.

The largest self-built castle in the U.S., six decades in the making.

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

Get lost in this haunting fairytale art walk through a man-made eucalyptus grove.

A tiny theater hidden in an alley plays a constant stream of short silent films for anyone willing to peer through the peephole.

A free, public museum dedicated to the fascinating science of sight.

Today this bizarre rooftop phone booth seems like a piece of kitsch but it was once used to spot disastrous storms.

This unincorporated community in western Ohio got its peculiar name from John "Daddy" Baker.

An obsolete, vanishing traffic device warns Cincinnati drivers away from middle-of-the-road obstructions.

Learn about the history and craftsmanship of carousels inside this museum located in a former post office.

This lovely university observatory continues to sit abandoned since its potential savior was sent to jail for fraud.

Take a drunken tour inside the world's largest known geode.

This alley in downtown Chicago held the bodies of over 600 people after the fateful Iroquois Theatre fire.

This $3 million model train takes you through Chicago, Seattle, and the thousands of miles in between.

Chicago's museum dedicated to the history of bondage and fetishism is more textbook than titillation.

This unauthorized stone mermaid was secretly carved out of public stone before being permanently preserved.

A monument to the art of slicing people open.