These steeply terraced ruins are a stop along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

The intricate stonework of Machu Picchu serves as a testament to Incan engineers.

After much poking and prodding, this island is decidedly not a magnetic anomaly, but it sure is pretty.

A wonder of natural limestone formations etched by millions of years of natural interaction between rainfall and rock and air.

An unphotographable nightly march of tens of thousands of "fairy penguins" from sea to shore.

Aqua white sand highlighted with fiery red rocks.

One of the best beaches in the entire world.

A collection of outdoor mystical statues paying homage to indigenous Australians and ecological stewardship.

A sculpture made of 10 Cadillacs as a monument to the "Golden Age" of the American automobile.

This Big Sur waterfall drops 80 feet directly into the Pacific Ocean, and inspired the hillside house up top.

This naturally heated mountainous creek has created a group of neon blue pools of potentially deadly boiling water.

The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.

This massive redwood tree has a hole in the base big enough to drive through.

Eons old volcanic activity created one of the most stunning rock formations in the United States.

A shop full of natural curiosities, carnivorous plants, and costumed taxidermied mice.

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

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

San Francisco's newly reopened hands-on science museum.

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

This shop specializes in oddities and Victorian-inspired wonders.

A winding path built in secret on the edge of the continent.

The only theatre in the world constructed specifically for sound movement.

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

Towering basalt columns, a creation of fire and ice.