Places James Ricci Wants to Go

The iconic Chicago sculpture hides a beautiful and easily overlooked plaque on the backside.

The first attack on the continental U.S. during WWII occurred off the coast of a quiet California golf course.

Burping, gurgling geothermal mud pots by the Salton Sea.

The clothes-washing king doubles as a community center with some unusual features, including an aviary filled with finches.

The world's largest squirrel statue clutches a pecan bigger than your head.

This stretch of beach along California's central coast is a busy highway for the largest seal in the northern hemisphere.

At this California chicken ranch, four bucks will get you 18 eggs and a chorus of dancing animatronic poultry.

A century-old hotspot for jazz, frequented by everyone from Charlie Chaplin to Al Capone.

The multinational Burger King chain is banned from operating within 20 miles of a family restaurant filed under the same name.

High in the Rockies the third largest statue in the U.S. opens her welcoming arms, and lights up the night sky.

Brightly colored 30-foot-tall totems light up the desert sky just outside Las Vegas.

For two weeks every June, fireflies in the Smoky Mountains perform an astonishing light show.

One of the world's oldest and most massive living organisms is a grove of quaking aspens.

Oh, just a motel on the edge of the desert decorated with thousands of clowns conveniently located next to an abandoned graveyard.

A forensic lab dedicated to fighting crimes against wildlife.

The only runway directly into the magic kingdom has been closed since 1972, but it still sings to you if you drive fast enough.

Where the "World Pinball Champion” is crowned.

The oldest bibliophilia club in America, with exhibitions on historic books and graphic arts.

Parking garage where Bob Woodward met Watergate source "Deep Throat."

The thousands of shades on display — some toxic, others impossibly rare — are a library of more than just color.

The entire length of the border is marked by a 20-foot-wide slash through the trees.

This hidden stream beneath Indianapolis makes an appearance in the best-selling novel "Underground Airlines."

Graffiti covers the walls of a room where university students through the centuries have waited nervously to defend their theses.

A military museum and library dedicated to the citizen soldier.