Neither Spanish settlers nor anyone since has been able to tell who built these strange California rock walls.

An extensive collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts and mummies.

Julia Morgan's Moorish-Gothic labyrinth of fountains, trees, natural light and Oakland's notable dead.

A storybook European village in Berkeley.

After starting as a whimsical tourist attraction that eventually found its way to ruin, these renovated canals offer a lush and exotic locale on the Pacific Coast.

Eons old volcanic activity created one of the most stunning rock formations in the United States.

One of the most scenic stretches of road in America winds between some of the country's oldest trees.

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

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

These delicate buggers are some of the rarest fossils that have bubbled up from the Tar Pits.

A "gravitational anomaly" located in the redwood forests just outside of Santa Cruz, California.

A hotel and restaurant serving as the mecca of kitsch.

Towering basalt columns, a creation of fire and ice.

A trash dump made beautiful by nature's power.

A rococo retro-futurist future-rustic vernacular between yesterday’s tomorrow and the future that never was.

Furniture tries to escape an abandoned building in San Francisco.

Sitting atop San Francisco's tallest hill, a cross honors the victims of the Armenian genocide.

This painted marvel is San Francisco's 400-foot ode to urban biking.

A garden oasis filled with flowers mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare.

This contorting sculpture is the tallest in San Francisco.

One of the oldest producers of hand-folded fortune cookies still uses its original secret recipe.

Standing in for the first ship to navigate the Northwest Passage.

This tall and trim architectural oddity is one of the skinniest buildings in San Francisco.

A former hardware store near Yerba Buena is the official home of California's history.