This grinning pup statue is all that's left of what was once a ubiquitous Bay Area diner chain.

Here, visitors can swing with the waves of the Pacific Ocean.

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

This stretch of beach along California's central coast is a busy highway for the largest seal in the northern hemisphere.

It should come as no surprise that the world's largest artichoke lies in the town that calls itself the "Artichoke Center of the World."

Made famous by cable TV, this oddball collection of antiques and collectibles is a cut above the rest.

A popular winter vacation destination for migrating monarch butterflies.

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

This one-block alleyway is stuffed with street art that is colorful, cultural, and intensely political.

A tribute to the life and work of the beloved "Peanuts" cartoonist.

The lighthouse central to the 1980s horror classic "The Fog" is, in fact, located in one of the foggiest areas of the Pacific Coast.

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

This turn of the century masterpiece has a mysterious goaty interloper.

Life in this isolated, hilltop lighthouse was lonely, but it sure was lovely.

A historic hotel that made a cameo in Hitchcock's classic film has no intention of letting guests forget its fame.

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

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

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

Stripes of flowers bloom each spring in a 50 acre rainbow of color.

This Big Sur waterfall drops 80 feet directly into the Pacific Ocean, and inspired the hillside house up top.

Trails through lava-carved tube-caves display sparkling bacteria and a rich history.

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

Canyon walls shrouded in ferns.

A collection of 20th-century automata, penny arcade games, and musical contraptions.