Giant stone letters dedicated to the founder of Armenia's alphabet.

This Armenian monastery was carved out of cliffs and named after the spear used to stab Jesus.

Nestled in a peaceful valley, this Armenian monastery may have been saved from Mongols thanks to the eyes of God.

Azerbaijani ghost town, decaying after a war left it an armed forces buffer zone.

Centuries before the modern seismograph, Armenian monks measured quakes with this tilting pillar.

This striking icon of the disputed Republic of Artsakh caused a stir at a Eurovision Song Contest.

A scenic canyon with thick forests and historic ruins.

Right up until the 20th century this network of man-made caves was the biggest village in Eastern Armenia.

A roaring, awe-inspiring double cascade of icy water flows through woodland Oregon like something out of a Tolkien novel.

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

A charming desert roadside bakery that produces 10 times more bread daily than it has residents in its town.

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

The unbelievably opulent home built for an infamous newspaperman.

A massive volcanic plug is now a protected area that hosts a number of bird species.

An alley covered with 20 years of bubble gum.

Coastal dunes, site of buried Egyptian movie set and former utopian colony.

A graceful natural rock formation stands astride the point where the Gulf of California meets the Pacific Ocean.

Huge hole looks down onto an underground beach populated with sea lions.

A 19th-century Baja cantina that many say is the birthplace of the margarita.

The ghostly remains of an accidental sea.

An extraordinarily ornate museum in San Diego holds wondrous anthropological treasures.

Oldest building in California still in use.

The site of murders and Satanic cult gatherings.

Megachurch turned Catholic church comprised of 10,000 glass panes.