Go to this place or hate your life forever

Like many people, I enjoy traveling. And when I travel I like to see everything , including the awkward local attractions that most normal human beings assume will be lame and therefore avoid at all costs.

Here's what I'm telling you today. Do not avoid these places.

They are literally full of the most random and amazing artifacts from history, much of it clearly invaluable and yet being treated as if there are millions in existence. And even better, seeing it in these small, local museums usually means that a story comes along with it.

So here's my recommendation for today of a random place to go or you'll hate yourself forever: The Squirrel Cage Jail in Council Bluffs, IA

A model demonstrating the construction of the prison

A view of the prison cell with a creepy mannequin (ok, they do have some there)

A view of the outside of the jail

The Squirrel Cage jail was used from 1885 to 1969 and is a three story brick building. The weird thing about it is that the jail cells are the pie pieces in a cylinder that had to be rotated to let prisoners out one cell at a time. I realize that might sound just kind of odd, but when you see it in person, it's even stranger. And that's the best part about the Squirrel Cage Jail, is that you get to really see it in person. Because the facility was still in use so recently it's basically exactly how it was when prisoners were still being housed there. That means you get to see the names scratched into the paint, stand in the walk-in shower, and walk through the juvenile facility (imagine a child's bedroom behind bars, basically what it is) and touch it all too, just like the prisoners did. Local museums usually let you touch lots of things, which I think is awesome because I want to hold history in my hands. No recreations or awkward lighting with creepy mannequins. I want the real thing. The Squirrel Cage Jail even has printed records and newspaper clippings of past prisoners so you can get an idea of who was in there and what for. Strangest story: A child whose parents had both been arrested so they too had to stay in the prisoner because no one was at home to take care of them.

Admission is something like $7 and the museum is open from April to October. The money goes towards the facility which really has been presented fantastically. And if you need even more proof that it's authentic, the man that works there told me that everything he learned about the place, he learned from people who did time there. Creepy, right?