A well-preserved Ancestral Puebloan ruin tucked beneath a desert cliff.

A former utopian healing center created by a huckster and built by derelicts.

Three prestigious academic collections come together to create a world-class natural history museum.

Located on 420 acres in the high desert, this spiritual center is dedicated to the "science of the future."

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

The 340-year-old house that inspired the classic Nathaniel Hawthorne novel.

San Francisco's oldest surviving monument and meeting place for 1906 survivors.

Graffiti, cars, and religion combine to create this jungle of scrap in the Nevada desert.

Acres of natural wonders left behind by a socialite-turned-gardener.

Stroll the grounds built by murder, suicide, and dirty oil money at one of Hollywood's most filmed mansions.

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

California's own medieval Italian castle, authentic down to the 300-year-old iron maiden in the dungeon.

This rare example of a "tidefall" is a spectacular drop from the cliffs down onto the beach.

One of the ghostly stops along Route 66.

This naturally heated mountainous creek has created a group of neon blue pools of potentially deadly boiling water.

Macabre headstones carved with winged skulls, dancing skeletons, and pithy reminders of impending death.

World's oldest operating science fiction and fantasy club, once home to Ray Bradbury and L. Ron Hubbard.

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

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

An eclectic trailer park retreat in the middle of the California desert.

The site of murders and Satanic cult gatherings.

A storybook European village in Berkeley.

Travelers exchange letters with woodland creatures at this mini post office.

The largest drain hole in the world.