A pair of slides and a tree-lined stair corridor have been an urban oasis for nearly 40 years.

The century-old bell and clock tower at UC Berkeley is the third-tallest in the world, and has fossils.

The Laureates here get something even more coveted than a Nobel Prize: free parking for life.

Thousands of crosses and markers for soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan blanket a California hillside.

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

This Oakland fairytale kingdom, fiercely devoted to childlike whimsy, was an early inspiration for Disneyland.

Bonsai garden in Oakland is curated by the first non-Japanese female bonsai master in the United States.

This mysterious series of teeny guerrilla installations sheds a whimsical light on street art in Oakland.

Oakland's beautiful monumental cemetery.

Dive bar built out of the remains of a whaling ship.

One of the best absinthe distilleries in the United States.

This (occupied) house is 10 feet wide and full of spite.

This mountaintop beacon is only lit three times a year but shines like some kind of all-seeing eye.

Sunset-colored dunes of volcanic ash make taking a poor photo impossible.

One woman's Viking Castle on Lake Tahoe.

Four hundred granite steps were built into this massive rock by the National Park Service.

The first life claimed by this record-breaking peak wasn't lost to exposure or a fall but rather lightning.

The interior of the Overlook Hotel in "The Shining" was based on this Yosemite original.

The grand marquee of this abandoned Hawaiian theater remembers the building's elegant past.

During the solar phenomenon "Lahaina Noon" this bendy, curvy sculpture forms a perfectly circular shadow on the ground.

A controversial memorial at the place where Captain Cook met his violent end.

This narrow coastline trail through the dense Kauai wilderness is among the most beautiful and dangerous in the world.

This legendary urban waterfall creates a dazzling display of rainbows.

Climbing this abandoned railway leads to breathtaking vistas of O‘ahu.