Places Sun Wants to Go

The 1936 Summer Olympics site is a crumbling remnant of sportsmanship and a history its host country would like to forget.

An abandoned vacation home spent a decade taking on legends. It's now taking on water.

One of the world's largest ice festivals dazzles visitors for over a month with radiant sculptures and carvings.

This abandoned fishing settlement may well be the greenest village in the world.

This tiny patch of arid sand sits in one of the greenest states in the United States.

Massive mounds of golden sand look like a desert landscape randomly plopped in an Arctic forest.

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

A piece of the iconic wall found an unlikely new home in a Vegas bathroom.

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

Las Vegas's very own 40-foot-tall fire-spewing praying mantis.

One of the world's tallest Ferris wheels takes visitors high above Las Vegas in a spinning party room.

A giant open-air sculpture made of over 200 full-sized boats.

These banned cigarette vending machines now sell little pieces of pocket-sized art.

A blacklight mini-golf fever dream pays tribute to the iconic rock band.

An exotic wildlife habitat right off The Strip.

This former lieutenant governor's home is brimming with curiosities.

This incredible collection of vintage pinball machines can be played at 25 cents a pop.

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

James Turrell's total color immersion art installation, hidden on the top floor of a luxury handbag shop.

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

A common entry point to the Griffith Observatory trail holds its own wonders.

These Pre-Columbian petroglyphs contain representations of birds, deer, hunters, and even some early Native flute players.

Life-sized sculpture of a blue whale made of hand-recycled plastic trash.

A serene garden path lined with 36 haiku stamped into clay stones.