The randomness of this wall of lava lamps helps encrypt up to 10 percent of the internet.

A 19th-century horse lover's bequest led to the construction of this unique fountain in Chicago.

In Chicago, a pizza-enthusiast has opened a museum dedicated to the history of pizza.

A little-known subterranean street runs under some of the best-known buildings in Chicago's River North.

Cryptic messages embedded in the New York City sidewalk.

A semi-scholarly approach to sex.

All of Chicago's wood-paved streets are long gone but two alleys remain.

Once the site of a Native American harvest festival, this humble clearing later played an invaluable role in the birth of jazz.

An otherworldly musical haven in The Big Easy.

The curiosities and wonders of pharmacy in a delightful historic building.

This symbolic piece of New Orleans architecture is also home to a few ghastly stories.

Live long and prosper in Vulcan, Alberta.

The rocks in this arid basin leave trails of movement behind them.

Ancient human, animal, and geometric figures drawn in the earth.

One of few surviving standpipe water towers in the U.S.

What was meant to be a temporary exhibit is now a permanent fixture at the St. Louis Zoo filled with beautiful birds.

What was once a presidential estate is now an exotic menagerie and home to the Budweiser Clydesdales.

One of Chicago's last seafood smokehouses perfects a dying breed of fishcraft.

The original Garfield station is the oldest station facility on the "L", with the station house dating from 1892.

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

The beloved home to all publications indie, erotic, and punky.

This alley in downtown Chicago held the bodies of over 600 people after the fateful Iroquois Theatre fire.

A heavenly experience, right here on Terra Firma.

The southernmost outpost of the Russian Empire in colonial America.