Places Michelle Cassidy Wants to Go

Native American burial mounds? Giant gopher dens? No one knows what created the Mima Mounds.

These naturally occurring but rare geological formations are each about the size of a small house.

The sunlight passing through the opening of this huge cave system creates a magical effect.

Every equinox this Maya pyramid puts on a spooky ancient light show.

Live data is transmitted from the Atlantic coast to instantly recreate the ocean waves in this fountain at the NOAA headquarters.

A museum in England’s Lake District dedicated to the trusty pencil wants you to know the story of their World War II spy pencils.

This 4,000-foot-diameter hole is touted as "the most well known, best preserved meteorite crater on Earth."

An explosion of natural color known as "the river that ran away from paradise."

From Tintin to the Smurfs, Europe's greatest graphic icons are celebrated in a grand Art Noveau gallery.

Lavish royal estate punctuated with heated greenhouses.

Naturally carbonated water fills the mineral baths at this 19th-century California resort.

A Ukrainian church canteen doles out hearty fare in an East Village basement.

Unusual books about food and drink abound in this 19th-century New York townhouse.

Enormous underground chamber built to detect 'ghost particles' of the universe.

A museum dedicated to "science, history and the arts" little changed since 1915.

One of the oldest producers of hand-folded fortune cookies still uses its original secret recipe.

The oldest dim sum restaurant in the United States is a nostalgic jewel.

San Francisco's most expensive hotel suite includes a secret passageway rumored to have been used by JFK.

These strange piles of magnetized volcanic ash travel across the desert about 50 feet per year.

This rare volcano spews the strangest and (literally) coolest lava in the world.

This hill made entirely of ancient Roman jars was simply a garbage dump to the people of the time.

The French deconstructionist had a weakness for baked goods.

Ado Awaye Mountain and the unique lake that sits near its peak are shrouded in ancient legends.

A centuries-old quest to create artificial life is alive and well in the French town of Limoux.