This sprawling mini-golf empire is an impressive testament to a disappearing attraction.

A notorious Route 66 eatery once frequented by Al Capone.

Buy a token from the liquor store and you can make this beast spew flames on command.

In the Shawnee National Forest, amazing rock formations peer through the treeline.

The final resting place of the world's first nuclear reactor.

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

Oversized statues are just the tip of this nostalgic Americana roadside attraction.

The unluckiest U-boat in the entire German fleet is now on display in a Chicago museum.

The city of Rockford, Illinois is symbolically protected by a quartet of fittingly stony sentinels.

The world's largest collection of the world's largest objects is in one small Illinois town.

What may be America's largest classic video game arcade lurks inconspicuously in a Chicago suburb.

First planned industrial community in the United States.

Once one of the world's great cities, Cahokia was a place of religious worship, trade and mass human sacrifice before being mysteriously abandoned.

The twin towers in this Chicago fountain use 50 foot tall video screens to spit on people.

This surprising gem is a world-class archeological museum hidden at the University of Chicago.

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

River pirates, murderous bandits, and serial killers used this Illinois cave as their debauched hideout.

Years of archaeology, just chillin' by the water cooler.

This $3 million model train takes you through Chicago, Seattle, and the thousands of miles in between.

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

Shop of curiosities with a dinosaur museum tucked in its basement.

What's left of the ruins of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition, or World's Fair, also known as the White City.

A science teacher's dream.

Each of these gorgeous, intricately decorated rooms is painstakingly crafted to the scale of 1 inch: 1 foot.