Guidebooks are annoying. Just because some editor who doesn’t know me tells me which restaurant is the best or what attraction is a must-see doesn’t make it a must-see attraction. Sightseers’ Delight is dedicated to the weird, the quirky and the fun. After all, traveling is fun.
If it’s not, you’re doing it wrong.
All of the places highlighted in this ever-growing database are great. Sightseers’ Delight has visited them all. We think you should make a point to see every one of them. But, this is not a guidebook. Just a webpage to help you plan your next adventure.
The Bean, officially named Cloud Gate, is a highly-polished, mirrored bean-shaped sculpture located in Chicago’s Millennium Park. Created by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor, the public art installation is a popular backdrop for Chicago tourists’ photos. The sculpture, inspired by liquid mercury, comprises 168 stainless steel plates that are welded together, and its polished exterior has no visible seams. The sculpture was dedicated on May 15, 2006.
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The Chicago Picasso (often just The Picasso) is an untitled monumental sculpture by Pablo Picasso in Daley Plaza in Chicago, Illinois.
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The water was vital to Chicago’s growth and success as a city, and nowhere is that more apparent than at the McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum. The five-story museum is located in the southwest bridge house of the DuSable Bridge, better known as the Michigan Avenue Bridge. The museum includes exhibits on the history of the Chicago River and the bridge, and visitors can access the bridge’s gear room.
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The Illinois Railway Museum was founded in 1953 when a group of enthusiasts came together to purchase and preserve an Indiana Railroad interurban car, No. 65. The museum was originally named the Illinois Electric Railway Museum, and the museum’s collection includes an impressive collection of electrics, including interurbans, streetcars and L cars.
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President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903 created Wind Cave National Park. It was the seventh national park and the first cave worldwide designated as a national park. While the park is known as the home of one of the longest caves globally, measuring more than 149 miles, it is home to the largest remaining natural mixed-grass prairie in the country. The park, which covers 33,847 acres, is home to an array of animals, including bison and prairie dogs. Access to the caves has been closed since 2019 because of a broken elevator.
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The Black Hills Central Railroad operates the 1880 Train between Hill City, South Dakota, and Keystone, South Dakota, on the Burlington Northern Railroad’s former Keystone Branch. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad built the line to serve mining and timber interests, reaching Keystone on January 20, 1900. The line later hauled carving equipment for Mount Rushmore. The Black Hills Central acquired the 10-mile-long in 1981. In 1986 Burlington Northern abandoned the Deadwood branch between Hill City and Deadwood.
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The Bullock Hotel is a historic landmark located at the corner of Wall Street and Main Street in Deadwood, South Dakota. It was built by Seth Bullock and his business partner Sol Star around 1895 for $40,000. The hotel is the oldest in Deadwood and has 28 of its original 63 rooms and a casino and restaurant. Seth Bullock began construction on the hotel shortly after the devastating Deadwood fire of 1894, which destroyed the original two-story wood-frame building. The hotel was designed in an “Italianate” and Victorian style, with the first floor featuring a grand hotel lobby, a large dining room, and several offices. The second and third stories held 63 luxury sleeping rooms with baths down the halls and two large banks of skylights for natural lighting. All rooms were furnished with iron and brass beds and oak furnishings.
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The Mount Theodore Roosevelt Monument, also known as the Roosevelt Friendship Monument or Friendship Tower, is a 31-foot-tall stone tower in the Black Hills National Forest near Deadwood, Lawrence County, South Dakota. The monument is a tribute to Theodore Roosevelt, a deputy sheriff in Medora, North Dakota, in 1884. He became lifelong friends with Seth Bullock, who was the Sheriff of Deadwood at the time, and when Roosevelt passed away, Bullock wanted to erect a monument in his honor. The Society of the Black Hills Pioneers helped build the tower, which was dedicated on July 4, 1919. It donated the tower to the United States Forest Service in 1966. In 2010, a restoration project included foundation stabilization and stone repair. Stairs were added to the monument leading up to the platform, and handrails were installed on the stairs and the platform. The Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission, the Black Hills Parks and Forest Association, and the Black Hills National Forest helped restore the monument.
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Custer State Park includes more than 71,000 acres and is South Dakota’s first and largest state park. The state park and wildlife reserve is home to an assortment of animals, including free-roaming bison and prairie dogs. The park, established in 1912 and named for Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, is famous for Needles Highway and its wildlife loop, offering incredible views of a bison herd and prairie dog towns. In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps built roads and laid out campgrounds
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The South Dakota Air and Space Museum displays more than 30 aircraft ranging from World War II to active-duty bombers, such as the B-29 Superfortress and the B-1B Lancer. The museum is part of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force and is located just outside Ellsworth Air Force Base.
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