Places micheleshreeve Wants to Go

Twelve plaster figures inspired by da Vinci's famed painting haunt the desert landscape above a real-life ghost town.

The second-largest gold nugget in existence, displayed in a Las Vegas casino conveniently named the Golden Nugget.

Mine your own precious stones.

Nearly 300,000 acres of wildlife, natural splendor, and a hidden ghost town have been designated a national monument.

This historic estate on the east shore of Lake Tahoe was home to an eccentric millionaire (and his pet elephant, Mingo).

Eastern zen meets Western grit in these four little trees growing out of a rock on Lake Tahoe’s Nevada shore.

This Nevada lake holds its titular natural pyramid and, if the legends are true, a number of dangerous spirits.

Formerly the world's largest, this Willy Wonka-esque contraption runs 24/7.

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

In the middle of an extremely unforgiving and desolate high desert is the most secret military facility in the world.

Dyed by iron oxide over centuries, these sandstone rocks rise thousands of feet into the sky.

Stepping away from the glitz of mobsters and casinos to learn about the other history of Vegas.

A collision of human error and natural geothermal pressure created this rainbow-colored geologic wonder.

Flashy signs from Las Vegas’s past find their final resting place at this unusual graveyard.

A desert journey through atomic history.

Idaho’s largest, deepest limestone cave is known for its quirky rock formations and bat population.

See the computer’s history revealed over the course of 20,000 years.

This perfectly preserved Chinese medicine shop was untouched for decades before being reopened as a museum.

This rustic old building is said to be the most photographed barn in America.

Dozens of rockets and missiles are on display outside a testing facility in the Utah desert.

This 35-foot troll in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, was made by the world’s leading recycling artist as part of a global fairytale.

An ill-fated attempt to grow wheat in the sagebrush steppe of northeastern Nevada.

A sculpture for the sun and stars, created by Nancy Holt.

This massive mushroom has spent centuries eating its way across a huge swath of Oregon.