Places ckoohle Wants to Go

This tiny site in Iowa, part of a patchwork national wildlife refuge, is home to ancient flora and fauna.

An underground wonderland in Iowa.

The highest point in Iowa, while not that impressive to mountain states, has earned its own monuments.

A small burial plot formerly stranded in the middle of a road.

In rural Iowa, an imported 19th-century windmill overlooks an unlikely enclave of Danish culture.

An Iowa town celebrates its heritage with the tallest working Dutch windmill in North America.

Chilly air billows out from the entrance of an abandoned mine on a steep hillside, providing a refuge for Ice Age fauna and flora.

Home with Gothic windows featured in a famous painting.

A four story, football field-sized, nine-grotto creation made of shells, minerals, and rare stones.

Site of the 1879 Cheyenne Outbreak and the site where famed Sioux chief Crazy Horse met his fate.

When an ancient supervolcano erupted, some of Nebraska's prehistoric animals were forever preserved in ash.

This former nursery supplied plants for the creation of Chicago's largest park.

Built in 1869, this now-retired structure looks more like a medieval fortress than a county lock-up.

This national park dedicated to the tallgrass prairie ecosystem still displays its military past.

This historic lavatory leftover features two levels of defecation stations completely without context.

The world's third-largest scale model of the planets.

The hometown of Popeye's creator is littered with a growing collection of granite cartoon characters.

A hidden grotto on the grounds of the Kane County Government Center.

This life-size bronze statue remembers the tallest recorded human in his Illinois hometown.

This architectural stunner is one of the few surviving Egyptian Revival theaters in the U.S.

Arguably the best example of an authentic Dutch windmill in the United States, rivaling its counterparts in the Netherlands.

A plaque marks a former safe house on the secret route, now hidden next to a McDonald's.

Even with only two residents and one building, this tiny Illinois town is famous for its burgers.

This botanical garden outside Chicago boasts an array of more than 300 varieties of lilacs.