Places hopemch Wants to Go

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

This surprising gem is a world-class archeological museum hidden at the University of Chicago.

More than 8,000 drinking jugs say “Cheers!” to a guy named Toby.

Buy a token from the liquor store and you can make this beast spew flames on command.

Oversized statues are just the tip of this nostalgic Americana roadside attraction.

This memorial plaque remembers a strangely shallow maritime disaster known as "Chicago's Titanic."

Museum dedicated to the art of cutting and polishing stones.

First known as the "Sample House," this construction mash-up was meant to be a living catalogue of building styles.

Moving, mind-blowing metal sculpture work of an outsider artist.

An eccentric park and pool.

In a quiet north Chicago neighborhood rests a stunning relic of the golden age of earthenware design.

Take a break from all the boring business of death at this funeral home mini-golf course.

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

You can take a class, browse the library, or visit the lavish lair of an international men's humor society.

Spanking machines, fake goats, and more devices of humiliation are on display in this museum of fraternal initiation devices.

This landmark of the Chicago silent film industry may not be in the picture business anymore but it still stands proudly.

This small, but long-running hobby club has built one of the largest model rail lines in the US.

This historic-shipwreck-cum-diving-spot can still be seen poking its boiler out of the Lake Michigan waters that claimed it.

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

This abandoned 19th century orphanage started as a boarding school for children of Civil War veterans.

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

This urban drawbridge gained eternal pop culture fame when the Blues Brothers jumped it while it was raised.

The 30,000-volume library is one of the world's most impressive poetry collections.

Quirky water tower advertises the long-gone Brooks Tomato Products Co.