A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

Floating man-made island and upscale restaurant.

An essential stop before plundering, BYO Cutlass.

Olfactory delights in San Francisco's Botanical Gardens.

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

Every equinox this Maya pyramid puts on a spooky ancient light show.

No telescopes, no power, no gift shop: The Observatory of Chichen Itza, one of the world's oldest observatories, takes astronomy back to basics.

Two mammoth statues inspired by equally tall tales lure tourists to this roadside attraction.

Canyon walls shrouded in ferns.

Commonly referred to as the most photographed Victorian home in the United States.

Aqueducts have dramatically changed this old lake, now home to tufa towers and its very own species of tiny brine shrimp.

An optical illusion found amid a logged redwood forest.

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

A trash dump made beautiful by nature's power.

A peculiar mansion built by the troubled heir to the Winchester Rifle Company fortune.

Perfect your fly fishing technique on their practice ponds.

Nursery with extensive collection of flesh-eating plants operated by the author of "The Savage Garden."

This corn maze so big you may want to pack a lunch, and possibly a flaregun.

The Empire Mine is "one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California."

The capitol city's oldest existing cemetery.

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

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

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

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