One of just a few cities in the world to base their center of government on an island. Others: Paris and Osaka.

Four ionic columns from the Treasury Department building ended up in a park in Nebraska.

The two-cell building in Nebraska was briefly owned by a teenage boy and then a Hollywood dummy.

Long before guestbooks and hotels, frontier travelers signed their names on this rock face.

Population: 1.

This Wyoming town is fascinated by a particular mythical creature.

A popular rock that acted as a waymarker for American pioneers.

Devilish landscape, once cinema home to giant alien bugs, now derelict roadside attraction.

An earthwork sculpture built by Robert Smithson in the Great Salt Lake only reemerges during drought.

A sculpture for the sun and stars, created by Nancy Holt.

A quirky old tree covered in tokens, cans, and bottles of wishes.

This former rail stop in Utah was abandoned, repopulated by some nostalgic friends, and now is home to a single DIY aviator who lives in a hangar.

The world's largest dead polar bear, immortalized by taxidermy and Hunter S. Thompson.

The self-made house sculpture of an outsider artist who named himself "Chief Rolling Thunder."

A statue commemorating the heroic life of a Viking postman who was the Godfather of California skiing.

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

The randomness of this wall of lava lamps helps encrypt up to 10 percent of the internet.

If you dial the number in this abandoned office window "Sam Spade’s" secretary will ask you to leave a message.

Sasqu(w)atch out!

A memorial for the mustachioed record-setting runner.

The second largest waterfall by volume in the U.S., Willamette Falls is outdone only by Niagara in the amount of water that is pushed northward.

Home to the only outdoor municipal elevator in the United States.

A plaque commemorates the spot in the Oregon woods where the first-ever Geocache was hidden.

The oldest apple tree in the Pacific Northwest.