Places summermaddux Wants to Go

Hidden in the hills of Western Pennsylvania lies one of the best-kept ghost towns in America that you can legally visit.

Greenery cloaks this serene sculpture inspired by the famous Lost Gardens of Heligan.

A 20-meter (65-foot) robot towers over Tokyo Bay.

A Japanese concept restaurant that feels like a party thrown by the monsters in your closet.

Less so a museum and more a library for hardcore Japanophiles.

This secret coastal village is studded with pastel-colored houses all piled on top of one another.

A festival where people vie to be bombarded by exploding clusters of fireworks.

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

This striking otherworldly landscape outside Angola's capital city is the product of millions of years of erosion.

An Industrial Revolution-era public work that purified water using nothing but sand.

Home to the world's oldest functioning orrery.

Spectacular mineral formations fill these caves, which have been used for everything from smoking meat to stashing illicit liquor.

A well-preserved relic of the industrial age steel and iron works that dotted West Virginia.

Once connected to the outside world by a single train track, this ghost town is looked after by the National Park Service.

Home of a 28-foot tall stalagmite known as the War Club.

First a root beer ad, then a golf course clubhouse, and finally a massive teapot.

These rows of World War II-era bunkers were the scene of some of the infamous Mothman sightings.

This abandoned dream castle and its cemetery look out over the city that once inspired their creation.

Rome is now home to a stunning food museum and library.

The birthplace of the Japanese idiom "wet clothes" meaning “false accusation."

Live long and prosper in Tennessee.

This massive library holds what was once the largest book collection in the world.

Across the Pacific in a raft, a museum dedicated to Thor Heyerdahl's now legendary expedition.

A lonely chimpanzee lures you into a narrow alley leading to this hidden shrine.