Last week, I flew out a day ahead of our staff meeting in Chicago. Instead of enjoying the Windy City, however, I headed west, deep into Chicago's western suburbs. About an hour outside the city, past a few strip malls, a small sign indicated the next right turn would take me from an unremarkable suburban area into the place where the last particle of physics' Standard Model had finally been spotted: Fermilab.

Fermilab is the host of the Tevatron, which, until the LHC opened for business, was the biggest particle accelerator around, circling through nearly four miles of midwestern prairie. During its run, the Tevatron finally spotted the elusive top quark, and the huge volume of data it has generated over the years has recently provided hints that there may be new forces and particles. Nevertheless, its days are winding down as attention has shifted to the LHC. It will shut down for good in September.

Nevertheless, the accelerator was running non-stop during the visit, which kept us from going in and looking at some of the hardware that creates, accelerates, and then smashes protons and antiprotons, or the detectors that sift through the subatomic wreckage that ensues. Still, there was a lot to see, so let's start the tour.

Tours, either press or personal, start at Wilson Hall, named after the lab's first director. It's an architecturally distinct building, both inside and out.

The interior of the hall has a bit of greenery, which a staff member said provides a welcome break from the harsh winters that the area receives. That's probably especially true for the many foreign scientists who work there, some of which undoubtedly come from warmer climes.

The gentle curves of the outside of the building are reflected in the interior. The large atrium also ensures that very few of the building's rooms are cut off completely from the outside world, which I'm sure the researchers appreciate.

From the upper floors, there's a great view of the surrounding area, providing the hazy, humid air doesn't get too opaque. Here, we can see some of the power lines that supply the accelerator entering the Fermi grounds, along with a series of buildings clustered along an underground beam line.

In a different direction, you can see the outlines of the Tevatron's main accelerator ring. It's easier to follow based on the cooling water that tracks the ring, but the actual particles travel just beneath a small raised mound of earth.

Here, the Tevatron's main ring curves past a central cooling facility and recedes into the distance.

Although it wasn't possible to visit the tunnel while the beams were present, Fermilab has built a life-sized mockup inside Wilson Hall. The Tevatron was the first accelerator built with superconducting magnets and liquid helium cooling, which comprise most of the hardware in the tunnel.