One woman's Viking Castle on Lake Tahoe.

One of the oldest reform schools in the United States, home to wayward boys such as Merle Haggard, now abandoned.

The interior of the Overlook Hotel in "The Shining" was based on this Yosemite original.

Towering basalt columns, a creation of fire and ice.

Aqueducts have dramatically changed this old lake, now home to tufa towers and its very own species of tiny brine shrimp.

The tragedy of the Japanese internment camps is remembered here by a stark "Soul Consoling Tower."

The first life claimed by this record-breaking peak wasn't lost to exposure or a fall but rather lightning.

A remote crossroads honoring a fallen talent.

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."

More than 700 species live within this murky marvel of a swamp on California's coast.

This concrete ship has had four careers - World War I tanker, floating amusement park, fishing pier, and artificial reef.

Housed in a memorial lighthouse, this museum relays the history of surfing, beginning with the antics of royal Hawaiian teenagers.

This quirky roadside attraction dives into the many theories surrounding North America's most infamous hairy cryptid.

A pair of pure white felines guard the entrance to a spot of California real estate established as an artist's haven.

An ominous concrete cube cuts a dystopian silhouette atop this California mountain.

A burnt orange monolithic dome structure perched on a hillside near Interstate 280.

From the sky, a kaleidoscope of color brightens the grey landscape of the San Francisco Bay.

The haunting ruins of Jack London's dream house.

The unedited photograph called "Bliss" has graced the screens of over a billion computers.

The long, arduous journey of the stones of the Abbey of New Clairvaux.

These picturesque Hawaiian falls are home to a rare species of fish that uses a special sucker to climb up cliffs.

This legendary urban waterfall creates a dazzling display of rainbows.

The first U.S. town to secede from the Union, only to vote themselves right back in.

The Empire Mine is "one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California."