This Big Sur waterfall drops 80 feet directly into the Pacific Ocean, and inspired the hillside house up top.

The rusting remains of the largest assembled WWII fleet on the West Coast.

The oldest Naval cemetery on the West Coast.

Where the polar bear watches over everything, and every drink is a double.

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

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

A decommissioned Naval base now rents itself out for people who want to blow stuff up.

One of the best absinthe distilleries in the United States.

This quaint archive of the silent era preserves and pays homage to a seminal moment in film history.

One of the largest trees of its kind in California.

A replica of the first public theater built in California.

Pillars made of 700 pieces of luggage climb to the ceiling of Sacramento Airport's baggage claim.

I Street Bridge is the heaviest swinging center bridge in the United States.

The California capital city once stood 10 feet lower than it does today.

Commonly referred to as the most photographed Victorian home in the United States.

A statue commemorate Tommie Smith and John Carlos's brave protest at the 1968 Olympics, a watershed moment for civil rights.

The headquarters of a secretive order is also a beautifully-designed park.

A giant chess set, minus the psychedelic drug trip.

An extensive collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts and mummies.

A peculiar mansion built by the troubled heir to the Winchester Rifle Company fortune.

A massive ultra-modern church presents a science-fiction view of Catholicism's inclusive future.

A crumbling Beaux Arts monument to the Bay Area's age of rail.

This Oakland fairytale kingdom, fiercely devoted to childlike whimsy, was an early inspiration for Disneyland.

Dive bar built out of the remains of a whaling ship.