Standing in a state of "arrested decay," this ghost town allows for a detailed peek into Gold Rush life in an unusually harsh climate.

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

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

Oldest building in California still in use.

Statue of Lenin, from Cold War era Czechoslovakia, now in a neighborhood of Seattle.

A wall of chewing gum moonlights as collective art.

A walk through the historic city center, under the streets of Seattle.

A giant Troll lurks under one of Seattle's oldest bridges.

A rotting tree in the middle of Seattle doubles as an elaborately-controlled art piece.

A museum dedicated to the history and exploration of both popular music and science fiction.

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

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

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

Furniture tries to escape an abandoned building in San Francisco.

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

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

Since 1973, this block has been home to the most concentrated collection of murals in San Francisco.

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

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

A still functioning vaudeville carousel that has operated for over a century boasts a colorful menagerie and past.

An essential stop before plundering, BYO Cutlass.

North America's largest accredited model railroad museum.

An alley covered with 20 years of bubble gum.