Places Sam O'Brien Wants to Go

Come for the giant taxidermy lion, stay for the knick knacks at this Minneapolis curiosity shop.

The oldest continually used church in Minneapolis also sells great meat pies.

This French Canadian classic is a specialty of the oldest continually used church in Minneapolis.

An eatery within the Minneapolis American Indian Center writes colonial ingredients out of the story of Native American cuisine.

Funhouse of found art and participatory sculpture.

An architecturally-focused antique shop.

The pit stop from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" now serves beef and pork barbecue, not people.

Some of the best pastries in "the Czech heritage capital of Texas" come from a gas station off I-35.

This giant iron playfully pays tribute to an early 20th-century architectural trend.

Portugal's National Pantheon has a history of curses, collapses and financial problems.

This unassuming chapel in Portugal plays host to a ghoulish collection of bones.

A windswept necropolis carved into the rocks overlooks the "most Portuguese town in Portugal."

An honorary saint of the people, Maria Adelaide became an incorrupt corpse, the clothes intact, exhaling “a strong scent of roses.”

A tiny graveyard with a mysterious past.

This eclectic, mosaic-clad home includes a bamboo ping-pong loft and a "Whispermaphones" intercom.

DIY collection of eclectic holdings.

In one of America’s oldest mountain ranges, a long-awaited section of a scenic highway is now open to the public.

Visit this playground of waterfalls, caves and sinkholes.

Labor provided by Great Depression-era programs restored these 25,000 acres in Tennessee.

These early tent-shaped grave coverings are unique to Appalachia.

This park contains one of the largest concentrations of cedar glades, a unique and rare ecosystem.

The grave of America's 11th president is not in some grand monument but instead it's hidden away on the grounds of the Tennessee Capital.

Every day a troupe of pampered water fowl walk the red carpet to their favorite fountain.

The hotel where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot is now a museum dedicated to his work.