The most isolated mailbox in America lets desert travelers record their passing.

This rare tortoise skeleton has been hanging around the downtown Los Angeles museum for over a century.

Playable, historic pinball machines fill this Alameda museum.

Happy harbor seals frolic and snooze on this warm, sandy stretch of coast.

Swarms of butterflies cannot compare to the awe inspired by the publicly-funded nakedness once displayed in this sunken garden.

The awe-inspiring ship from the golden era of cruising has an incomparable history and a reputation as one of the world’s most haunted places.

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

Handmade treasures from around the world.

L. Frank Baum wrote part of the "Wizard of Oz" series in this wooden Victorian beach resort.

A raised boardwalk winds through a thicket of stunted, century-old trees no more than nine feet tall.

Along a California highway is a kind of Jurassic Park made of metal.

One of the few remaining carousels built by master amusement park carver Charles I.D. Looff.

Travelers leave tea kettles in a remote part of Death Valley as part of a mysterious, decades-old tradition.

A grove of "candelabra redwoods" deep in California's Lost Coast.

A nursery specializing in strange and beautiful succulents and cacti.

San Francisco's oldest operating hotel, with a Victorian atmosphere and a "haunted" fourth floor.

A crumbling wizard is one of the final reminders of a roadside Middle Earth.

Come crisp December nights, this fairly plain neighborhood becomes a holiday dream world.

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

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

An old California photo stand has been turned into a shrine to the cozy art of crochet.

A world-class observatory in the California desert.

Two men, two visionaries of Venice Beach, one little hotel that smells like cookies.

A large instrument played by the wind.