A disconnected rotary phone for "calling" lost loved ones offered a unique way of dealing with grief in disaster-stricken Japan.

An abandoned Soviet-era mining town in the mountains of South Kazakhstan.

Rusting ships sit in a desert where a sea used to be.

An institution dedicated to curiosity, logic, riddles, and Mongolia's long history of puzzles.

Where manatees are the snowbird vacationers in these balmy Florida springs.

The world's largest dark sky preserve is a Canadian park established to preserve the country's last wood bison.

Manatees congregate around a power plant's discharge canal where the water is especially warm.

This stunning mass of ice spans 121 square miles and is still growing.

The southernmost Anglican cathedral in the world has whale bones standing in its yard.

One of the world's southernmost bars.

Nimrod Polar Expedition base, and home to hundred-year-old frozen whisky.

Antarctica's bustling metropolis, originally established by Richard E. Byrd.

Russian Orthodox church built on an Antarctic island.

Final resting place of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton.

The remains of an abandoned dinosaur theme park litter the woods just off the highway.

Hell on Earth is actually a small town in Michigan where anyone can be mayor for a day.

Housed in the university planetarium, the thousand-strong collection of tiny towelettes includes a used one from the hosts of Car Talk.

One man's attempt to create an artistic wonder on a run-down block in Detroit.

A rare kind of blue bear can be found chiefly in the national park that shares their name.

An Alaska livestock farm devotes itself to harvesting wool from creatures that once ran with mammoths and sabertooth tigers.

This frozen tunnel in central Alaska is both an engineering feat and a valuable climate classroom.

One of the best absinthe distilleries in the United States.

An abandoned Cold War missile radar site.

This abandoned amusement park was built on a site with a dark history.