Costumed elves and mountain bikers co-exist peacefully at this abandoned Christmas-themed adventure park.

America's only nuclear missile silo open to the public.

A reproduction of earth's many biomes.

The old Niles Canyon Aqueduct in the San Francisco Bay Area is a bemusing and secret trail through nature for wayward travelers.

The key to turning shifting dunes into the green oasis of Golden Gate Park.

San Francisco's urban bison herd has persisted in the face of extinction, development, and disease.

This turn of the century masterpiece has a mysterious goaty interloper.

A monumental cross hides in the trees in Golden Gate Park.

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.

An elaborate gift from Claus Spreckels is now a piece of San Francisco history.

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

This shop specializes in oddities and Victorian-inspired wonders.

A nondescript building that's been functioning as a speakeasy for nearly a century and a half.

Staircase winds down the side of Telegraph Hill through gardens, wild parrots flying overhead.

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

An vast warehouse of everyday treasures in Berkeley, CA.

Handmade treasures from around the world.

A shape-shifting buy-sell-trade bookstore, born to Beatnik Era spirit.

A celebration of once forgotten materials.

A 90-acre park on former landfill that hosts an annual kite festival.

Oakland's beautiful monumental cemetery.

An "anarchical" no man's land, complete with garbage sculptures and a hobo-run "Landfillian Library."