Places kayleyrettberg Wants to Go

Museum dedicated to the art of cutting and polishing stones.

The famous author's birthplace is preserved in a town that he once described as narrow-minded.

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

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.

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

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

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

One-of-a-kind preserved ruins of an abandoned 1880s church in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood.

Eclectic collection of rare and beautiful stones in a historic home.

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

The mysterious white squirrels of this Illinois city are treated like sacred cows.

Tour the luxe "glass cage" that inspired and unnerved the architecture world upon its debut.

A notorious Route 66 eatery once frequented by Al Capone.

The world's largest collection of the world's largest objects is in one small Illinois town.

Taxidermy, Cigar Store Indians, A Model of a New York Tenement and Delicious Draft Root Beer.

What was once the second largest steel mill in the US is now a sprawling complex of modern ruins.

The city of Rockford, Illinois is symbolically protected by a quartet of fittingly stony sentinels.

This overgrown Illinois water park offers a whole new type of adventure.

The final resting place of the world's first nuclear reactor.

Recognized the world over as the home of the McCallisters in the 1990 movie "Home Alone."

The 606 is a decade in the making.

This sprawling mini-golf empire is an impressive testament to a disappearing attraction.

These abandoned grain silos and tunnels are an urban exploration dream.