Places Blake Olmstead Wants to Go

A popular place to pick up prehistoric coral fossils from the time when Michigan was an ocean.

A winding, blood-red tunnel of hardened lava navigable by foot.

The only diamond mine in the world where you can keep what you find.

This traditional garden in the San Fernando Valley doubled for Star Fleet Academy, and is irrigated entirely by wastewater.

Over 400,000 birds spend their summers nesting on this small Arctic island.

This huge work of functional public art replaced a landfill in New Jersey's Meadowlands.

Tracking the 1,500-year history of Korea's star cabbage.

Sister store to the Echo Park Time Travel Store.

Home to secret Eastern Bloc spy equipment and the largest stretch of the original Berlin Wall outside of Germany.

The middle finger of modernity.

The Arctic Archipelago is home to world's largest third order island: an island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island.

A bright and wacky exhibit answers every question you may have had about human excrement, flatulence, and more.

Three connected pink triangles memorialize persecuted gays and lesbians throughout history.

The only working large-scale tea plantation in the United States.

Birdhouses, peacocks, animal sculptures, and a graveyard are all found along this eclectic nature trail.

Rare and gorgeous birds abound in this protected wildlife sanctuary.

These black pillars of volcanic basalt seem to call mountain climbers with an unbreakable siren song.

A sculpture that resurrected the only tree standing following the devastating 2011 tsunami.

This pair of small sea rocks has been "wed" using rope and ancient Shinto tradition.

Every autumn, this hillside is ablaze with red summer cypress.

Bonsai trees that are up to a thousand years old.

This psychedelic tourist trap is a leisurely descent into madness.

Stroll through a wonderland of stupendous moss-covered trees.

A tiny red pebble marks what may be the quietest outdoor spot in the United States.