A burnt orange monolithic dome structure perched on a hillside near Interstate 280.

This 252 step staircase offers stunning views of San Jose.

Paranormal experiences in this hotel's room 217 led Stephen King to write "The Shining."

The home made famous by the 1983 holiday classic is now a perfectly preserved shrine to the movie.

Odd stone and concrete monuments in the "Poet of the Sierras" eclectic folly garden.

The black lab that was voted mayor of a California town is forever remembered by a life-size statue.

Neither Spanish settlers nor anyone since has been able to tell who built these strange California rock walls.

The old Niles Canyon Aqueduct in the San Francisco Bay Area is a bemusing and secret trail through nature for wayward travelers.

A life-sized mammoth sculpture marks the spot where the remains of a Columbian mammoth were discovered in 2005.

At this California chicken ranch, four bucks will get you 18 eggs and a chorus of dancing animatronic poultry.

Oakland's beautiful monumental cemetery.

The garage at the childhood home of Steve Jobs was a hangout for the founders of Apple, even if they never built computers there.

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

Built by the inventor of the radio, this abandoned hotel has housed early radio employees, military men, and a dangerous cult.

The one-time watch house for incoming ships at the Golden Gate now stands abandoned and hidden in trees.

Big gun installations, built over a massive cemetery, now abandoned & hidden in trees.

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

A monument to the love people have for their pets.

Shoot for par over the bodies of the dead on this cemetery-cum-golf course.

This sailor's boneyard was lost under a parking lot for decades before being rediscovered.

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

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

This partially buried wreck is one of the most complete of its kind but is only revealed when the sea allows.

A modern mechanical planetary system, part of a 10,000 year clock.