Where NASA's satellites and rovers phone home.

Explore the wide world of desert plants at this unique Palm Springs botanical garden.

Depicting scenes of everyday life - and specific individuals - in Great Depression era San Francisco.

The Citrus Variety Collection at UC Riverside contains two trees of each of the 1,000+ varieties of citrus.

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

A ring of creosote bushes that are estimated to be 11,700 years old.

The words of the neighborhood's most famous poets adorn four concrete walls.

A rough granite monument marks the spot where Europeans first caught sight of the San Francisco Bay.

The first fresco Diego Rivera painted in the United States can be found in the former San Francisco Stock Exchange.

These lush groves of fan palms rise up like oases out of southern California's Colorado Desert.

One man's prolific, decade-long quest to turn trash into artistic treasure.

A tiny survivor of the Donner Party disaster.

This mountaintop beacon is only lit three times a year but shines like some kind of all-seeing eye.

This childhood throwback has hundreds of arcade games and pinball machines to transport you back in time.

This rock formation named for its unique shape is one of many that call the Alabama Hills home.

In this roadside "community for the small," abandoned toys gain new lives.

The decaying adobe remains of an old homestead are just off the beaten path in Joshua Tree National Park.

The hundreds of movies and television shows shot in this high desert town are commemorated in a unique museum.

This giant spider sculpture made from the iconic car is one giant visual pun.

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

Whiskey lovers, this is your happy place.

Made famous by cable TV, this oddball collection of antiques and collectibles is a cut above the rest.

A popular winter vacation destination for migrating monarch butterflies.

This ramshackle ghost town is comprised of mining-era buildings collected from around the region.