A natural dome made of volcanic glass in Inyo National Forest.

Thousands of acres of beautiful wild landscape in the Great Basin.

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

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

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

One of the most scenic stretches of road in America winds between some of the country's oldest trees.

Quite simply the largest tree in the world (by volume).

The private clubhouse for the members of the Academy of Magical Arts.

Each year these high desert hills are absolutely covered with poppy flowers in a surreal show of nature.

An underground mansion with fruit-bearing trees and grapes growing beneath the surface of central California.

World-famous, Pink's still manages to keep its prized cult fetish status.

A hotel and restaurant serving as the mecca of kitsch.

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

Left untouched since a double murder-suicide in the 1960s, Los Feliz murder mansion remains a neighborhood mystery.

Behind this beachfront shop lies a spectacular, colorful sea cave with an equally colorful past.

These delicate buggers are some of the rarest fossils that have bubbled up from the Tar Pits.

The ghostly remains of an accidental sea.

Towering basalt columns, a creation of fire and ice.

A hand-built folk art installation covered with messages of God's love.

The rocks in this arid basin leave trails of movement behind them.

Its buzzing collection honors vibrator history.

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

Hollywood's most famous landmark, the "temporary" sign that has stood for decades longer than intended.

A trash dump made beautiful by nature's power.