This elaborate Hindu temple is located in a Chicago suburb, but looks like it was transported directly from India.

This overgrown Illinois water park offers a whole new type of adventure.

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

Recognized the world over as the home of the McCallisters in the 1990 movie "Home Alone."

Built to house a chapter of the Knights Templar, this grandiose building is a relic of Freemasonry in Chicago a century ago.

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

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

Pizza with a side of fine art.

This historic hotel invented the chocolate brownie.

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

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

The subtle science of a master molecular gastronomist.

A once-booming Mississippi River town with a history of racial violence is now eerie and mostly abandoned.

An antiquated German apothecary on Chicago's North Side.

This former fire tower found new life as a communications hub complete with a scenic overlook.

A memorial honoring those who perished in one of the worst construction disasters in U.S. history.

A melancholy guardian doubles as a judicious godmother to this small town cemetery.

This colorful West Virginia cowboy greets passersby with a glassy stare.

The largest piece of cut lead crystal adorned a grave for 75 years and is now the shining star of a glass museum.

The site of the one and only battle of Lord Dunmore's War.

A memorial in coal country commemorates the victims of an all-too-preventable mining disaster.

This abandoned mine and power plant was built atop land once given to Revolutionary War soldiers.

This claimant to the title of "smallest church in the 48 states" doubles as an equally tiny, quasi-post office.

This general store is more than a century old and home to various oddities and antiques.