A science teacher's dream.

A Japanese temple, old German townhouses, and public chess tables offer a peaceful escape from the bustle of the North Side.

A hot dog stand where the heads are just as hot as the dogs.

Nonprofit art center that promotes outsider, intuitive, and self-taught art.

A Museum of Holography frozen in 1974.

The site of the first couple's first kiss is commemorated by the most adorable presidential monument ever.

One of the most powerful computers in the world can be visited by anyone who wants to experience more computing than they can handle.

The face of a woman pushes its way through the earth.

The oldest experimental corn field in America is still creating better ways to grow crops.

Today this bizarre rooftop phone booth seems like a piece of kitsch but it was once used to spot disastrous storms.

Julia Buccola Petta's body was peculiarly well-preserved when it was exhumed six years after her death.

An exhibit of items from the mental institution where Mary Todd Lincoln lived after her son conspired to have her committed.

While he no longer has an eatery to give him context, this off-brand Paul Bunyan still holds his giant hot dog with pride.

A historic and oft-filmed prison stands in a Chicago suburb.

One of two identical monuments marking the sites of military training encampments in Peoria, Illinois.

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

Tour the luxe "glass cage" that inspired and unnerved the architecture world upon its debut.

This national park dedicated to the tallgrass prairie ecosystem still displays its military past.