Places John Rossi Wants to Go

A historic hydroelectric power plant serves as the unusual backdrop for a public park.

A geological mystery on Camelback Mountain.

This small, unassuming street is now a canvas for color and creativity.

Open since 1938, this diner has kept its fountain, malt machine, and all the gum that greasers left beneath its counter.

These petroglyphs created by ancient Arizonians have withstood centuries of exposure to the elements.

This 40-room dwelling tucked within a cliff was built by the basin's prehistoric residents.

A park in Mexico offers all the experiences of an illegal border crossing except for one: the border.

The biggest solar telescope in the world helps reveal the secrets of our sun.

This remote stretch of sand is a penguin lover's paradise.

Deep scars on the earth left by the Ice Age.

The U.S. Air Force has an anti-satellite laser weapon.

The remains of a Rockefeller's lush Italianate estate hidden in the underbrush on the coast of Lake Michigan.

Rumor had it that these concrete crosses scattered across the Arizona scrubland helped align spy satellites. (They didn’t.)

This largely forgotten piece of Cold War history stands hidden in the woods just north of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Twice a year, visitors can tour the desolate site that birthed the Atomic Age.

The only remaining Cold War–era Minuteman II missile control center in Missouri.

A unique botanical garden housed in three giant geodesic domes.

The preserved remains of the former Milwaukee County Hospital for the Insane are hidden in the wooded grounds of County Park.

This lovely university observatory continues to sit abandoned since its potential savior was sent to jail for fraud.

An urban forest overtakes what was the greatest failure of utopic urban housing.

A forgotten Cold War relic hidden in the outskirts of a Wisconsin city.

A physical reminder of Earth's ancient past, this rock results from the photosynthetic processes of some of the oldest forms of life.

The remains of an abandoned dinosaur theme park litter the woods just off the highway.

A hundred-year-old museum filled with giant physics toys and experiments designed by grad students.