Places thedaddyofboom Wants to Go

A fine, large-aperture telescope available for public use.

A French chateau, failed utopian community, odd museum, and Stonehenge replica in rural Washington State.

This large maar crater in Oregon is the bigger brother to Hole in the Ground.

Massive crater in central Oregon.

A volcanic landmark located on an Ice age lake bed.

A volcanic fissure over two miles long and up to 70 feet deep.

A tiny red pebble marks what may be the quietest outdoor spot in the United States.

An old vending machine serves up unpredictable beverages from its seemingly magical insides.

The small town of Poulsbo in Washington state is the next best thing to the Kingdom of Norway.

A bike being "eaten" by a tree is the real Vashon legend behind popular children's book, "Red Ranger Came Calling."

Home of Jake the Alligator Man, the mummified remains of a cigar smoking, cross-dressing celebrity of the Northwestern coast.

Shoreline strewn with the remains of ghostly fallen trees.

This Elizabethan hedge maze is one of only six in North America.

This semi-secret garden in south Seattle emulates a traditional Japanese garden using the plants of the Pacific Northwest.

This immigrant bridge once spanned the Thames but is now a fixture of an Arizona city.

A little piece of the Shire is hidden behind a plant nursery in Port Orchard, Washington.

A "sinister, whimsical, tacky, and really orange" public art installation hidden under a Seattle bridge.

A nondescript Seattle restaurant inherited a piece of European history.

Tacoma’s 25-foot coffee pot music spot has served up over 80 years of concrete kitsch.

The biggest pinball arcade in the world has over 600 pinball machines, and 300 arcade machines.

A colorful architectural gem in Seattle’s uniquely modern Central Library.

Residents of Fremont in Seattle have considered it the center of the universe since the 1970s.

42nd story Pyramid shaped penthouse tops Seattle's oldest skyscraper.

A commemorative mural in this tiny Ballard park honors the neighborhood's rich Scandinavian ties, particularly with Seattle's Norwegian sister city Bergen.