This futuristic public park includes large sculptures and an artificial geyser.

A steaming, boiling hellscape sources Hokkaido's thermal baths.

A sobering scientific reminder of the human damage caused by the advent of the nuclear age.

The mysterious round rocks of Schooner Gulch.

A pair of slides and a tree-lined stair corridor have been an urban oasis for nearly 40 years.

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

The eccentric and colorful pavilions of Tower Grove park are a beloved and overlooked symbol. 

This titanic oil company sign is a reminder of the Americana boom of the 1970s and also its commoditization.

This is not your typical jungle gym.

Nature's biggest mammal swims in landlocked Oklahoma.

Hundreds of personalized inscribed planks make up this historic boardwalk.

A New England-style lighthouse along California's beautiful Highway 1 gets a re-do.

Once close to extinction, there is no shortage of elephant seals on the beaches of Año Nuevo State Park.

Home to a forest of whimsical pygmy Coast live oak.

A small collection of iguana-infested ruins hides amid Cancún's bustling hotel zone.

Five sultans and their families rest in eternal splendor, teeming with overlooked beauty and drama.

One of the largest Buddhist stupas in the world keeps an eye out in every direction.

A complex and beautiful system of rice terraces covers a million acres over the mountains.

Sacred waters rescued from the wrath of a volcano.

This Balinese sea temple is thought to be guarded by the hundreds of monkeys that live around it.

The name of this ancient Indonesian temple translates as "Elephant Cave" but it could be more accurately called "The Hellmouth."

Isolated atop this Balinese sea crag is a lovely Hindu temple that is said to be guarded by sea snakes.

A trash dump made beautiful by nature's power.

The stones that traveled from Spain to eventually become a holy place for San Francisco's nature worshippers.