Places Natasha Leyk Wants to Go

One of the most acclaimed eateries in Arkansas is a two-table diner on the ground floor of a family home.

Hidden in Portland’s West Hills, a 170-year-old marker literally stakes out the Pacific Northwest.

One of America’s oldest and spookiest hotels, thanks to the residency of ghosts, dead presidents, and Alfred Hitchcock.

Sparkling, calcite-covered skeletons of children who may have been sacrificed to appease an angry god.

A 19th-century mansion houses the largest collection of gin in the European Union.

The largest Art Nouveau complex in the world is a Barcelona hospital with a 600-year-long history.

This weeping, 10-foot-tall sculpture was a maquette for a 9/11 memorial.

This historic Illinois "Muffler Man" has been converted from axe-touting lumberjack to rocket-wielding space ace.

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

This odd stone memorial remembers a loyal dog who offended the rail barons with his speed and saved his master with his pee.

A frozen oasis lies beneath the scorching New Mexico desert.

A roadside park in eastern Maine first marked the halfway point between the equator and North Pole with a brass pin in 1896.

This 1,700-pound edible sculpture is way better than your average chocolate mousse.

A monument marks the beginning of the longest north-south road in the United States.

This candy-striped tower is the farthest east you can go in the United States.

Turns out you can see the world without ever leaving Maine.

Plaque remembering the 18th century forced relocation of Acadians.

The only remaining historic maritime signal station in the United States.

This cathedral dedicated to Louis IX, sainted King of France, holds many secrets.

Preserving the remains of Native American cultures which otherwise would have been submerged behind Hoover Dam.

The drama of nature in full effect in this Nevada State Park.

The meteor that sealed the fate of the dinosaurs landed at this site, one of the largest impact craters in the world.

A 250-year-old timepiece-automaton adorned with golden mechanical birds, which still sing to this day.

Perhaps the tiniest sculpture in Saint Petersburg is a little bronze finch inspired by a song.