Places Emily Sue Wants to Go

A meandering boardwalk across the bogland leads to a "stairway to heaven" with sublime views.

100-year-old shipwreck you can walk up to at low tide.

The lush coastal city of Astoria is riddled with forgotten secret sidewalks.

A volcanic tunnel illuminated by natural skylights offers a shaded respite from the desert sun.

This large collection of tiny things revels in the art of fine machinery well made.

A former utopian healing center created by a huckster and built by derelicts.

The location of the last stand of Charles Manson's doomsday cult.

This old mining town, deep in the California desert, has a year-round population of one.

This impressive tunnel was dug entirely by hand over the course of 36 years.

Everything you always wanted to know about borates is here.

The liveliest ghost town in the state.

The abandoned train depot now doubles as a well-placed rest stop for those who take the road less traveled.

This former Masonic hall has been turned into an art project that uses even more metaphysical iconography.

"the sweltering inhabitants of Charleston and New Orleans, of Madras and Bombay and Calcutta, drink at my well . . . The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganges."

This Boston medical museum features the skull of the famous medical case of Phineas Gage.

Ralph Waldo Emerson spent two years living here decades before it became a Frederick Law Olmsted-designed park.

A beautiful Victorian-era cemetery, complete with a miniature village.

The world's toughest modern Christian pilgrimage leads directly to the gates of Hell.

A tiny microvalley etched into the side of Knocknarea Mountain hides another world.

An immersive environment that is part haunted house, part choose-your-own-adventure, and part jungle gym.

A unique geological area spiked with wind-carved rocks that resemble teepees.

Expansive and colorful studio of Minneapolis art-star, Doug Padilla.

A cave's rare beauty held a cavernous secret hidden underground.

Stalactites and stalagmites in a beautifully lit cave.