Louisa May Alcott based “Little Women” on her experiences growing up in this house with her sisters.

You have to love a museum with a truly dedicated focus. A focus on Superman, for example.

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

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

A sprawling museum filled with larger-than-life works of art.

The last masonry skyscraper ever built reveals a transitional moment in architectural history.

A spectacular remnant of an Adler and Sullivan masterpiece that was destroyed in 1972.

Partially submerged Buddha heads freckle Chicago’s neighborhoods.

A goddess-topped water fountain in Chicago was created thanks to the dreams of a thirsty newsboy.

Rifle through images of skyscrapers, Worlds Fairs, and more in the largest public postcard repository in America.

An avant garde art museum at the University of Chicago.

A beloved Chicago music venue offering cold beer and lots of “Friendly."

This urban drawbridge gained eternal pop culture fame when the Blues Brothers jumped it while it was raised.

A roaring, awe-inspiring double cascade of icy water flows through woodland Oregon like something out of a Tolkien novel.

A replica of the flagpole that gave a frontier town its name.

Turning night into day in Victorian-era Austin to thwart a serial killer.

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

Ancient pueblos built into the base of a natural canyon wall.

This historic national park is covered in the stunning ruins of red rock pueblos.

This tribute to the 16th-century composer is now an unusual shrine to Michael Jackson.

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

What was once the second largest steel mill in the US is now a sprawling complex of modern ruins.

A 400-foot-tall tall map of Chicago makes this once-ignored building stand out.

The site of a 19th century "dream city" that almost rivaled Chicago before being swallowed by the Indiana sand dunes.