World Bird Sanctuary, Valley Park, Missouri

Second in popularity only to gardening, birding is one of America’s favorite outdoor hobbies. Located in Valley Park, Missouri, 25 minutes west of downtown St. Louis, the World Bird Sanctuary is a place to support this fascination.

The World Bird Sanctuary cares for birds and a small variety of other animals from the Midwest and around the world.

The Sanctuary is responsible for bringing the peregrine falcon back to Missouri, releasing more than 500 barn owls and educating the 60 to 70 thousand people who visit the facility every year.

Many of the birds currently in the care of the World Bird Sanctuary will be released after propagation or rehabilitation. All of the species in the Sanctuary’s care — ranging from the bald eagle to the domestic rat — total about 350 animals. The project adheres to a strong mission statement: To preserve the earth’s biological diversity and to secure the future of threatened bird species in their natural environment.

In 1977, a small group of bird enthusiasts, headed by Walter C. Crawford Jr., formed the Raptor Rehabilitation and Propagation Project. In 1982, Crawford left his job at the St. Louis Zoo and took on the project full time, giving it the name it has today.

Spook Cave, McGregor, Iowa

Somewhere in northeastern Iowa, amid cornfields and far-reaching horizons, the land changes its mind. It ripples out from the upper Mississippi River, shaping bluffs into tree-covered billows and casting shadows over the once sun-baked land. Spook Cave and nearby McGregor, Iowa, nestle into the nooks of this rocky region, comfortably situated in the Effigy Bluffs.

Spook Cave, an adolescent cave at 150 million years old, has a claim to fame as the subject of local folklore. In the same rising bluff as the cave, serene terraced Beulah Falls pour from the forested hillside, just a stone’s throw from the cave entrance. These falls, however, once diverted attention from the neighboring hidden water-carved cave within the hill’s limestone walls, hiding the secret caverns from potential adventurers and spelunkers.

In a time when fast food is the meal of choice and exercise takes a back seat to video games, the YouZeum seeks to make a difference. By educating the young and old alike about the importance of health and wellness, this one-of-a-kind health science center is determined to change the lives of its visitors.

Located in Columbia, Missouri, the YouZeum is the state’s only health science center. Upon opening in May 2008, the YouZeum began its journey to change the lives of visitors for the better, making them more aware of the importance of nutrition, exercise and an overall healthy lifestyle.

Katie Harris, handling YouZeum publicity, explained that the YouZeum has an important purpose.

Villisca Ax Murder House, Villisca, Iowa

On the morning of June 11, 1912, the small town of Villisca, Iowa, awoke to find the Moore family and two overnight guests, the Stillenger girls, brutally murdered in their sleep. Known today as the Villisca Ax Murder House, the site of the murders attracts ghosts and ghost hunters alike.

Since the murders, the house has had more than a dozen residents living in it, but by 1994, it was in danger of being destroyed. Darwin and Martha Linn, the owners of the local Olson-Linn Museum, decided to buy the historic home rather than see it demolished.

“I was drawn to it,” Darwin Linn said. “I have a museum uptown, and I was looking for a hook. I have saved too many pieces of history to see it torn down.”