This former stomping grounds of the most eminent astronomers of the early 20th century.

Every year, over 25,000 monarchs overwinter in Pacific Grove.

A working model of the entire San Francisco Bay and much of the Sacramento River Delta, complete with regular tides that change every 14 minutes.

A glittering South Asian anomaly in a wealthy Los Angeles suburb.

Gold Rush ship-turned-hotel buried underneath San Francisco's financial district.

A music-filled, booze-soaked oasis in the desert.

No one's quite sure why there's a metal megaphone bolted on two rocks in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

L.A.'s oldest operating bowling alley is a beautifully restored homage to its speakeasy days.

This forgotten Frank Lloyd Wright house is an architectural marvel at the end of a sleepy residential street.

First LEED-certified gas station in the United States.

An abandoned Jazz Age dream home and con man's hideout in Death Valley.

Gorgeous purple flowers drape from the world's largest blossoming plant.

The world's largest wooden trestle stretches across this desert canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

A hidden world of exotic succulents and cacti.

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

The largest dune field in the Mojave offers a chance of hearing the 'singing sands.'

This 19th-century church is now a popular roller rink.

A cozy bookstore is tucked within an old gold mine shaft beneath the cafe and ice cream shop.

An abandoned, unfinished mansion on grounds strewn with lava rocks.

360-degree virtual reality chamber physically immerses scientists into their data.

Nuclear waste dump site now an environmental sanctuary.

Fonts are born and bred here at the oldest letterpress type foundry in the United States.

Discover for yourself what Herb Caen referred to as "the best kept secret in the Bay Area."

California's own majestic geyser is powered by a subterranean volcano.