The key to turning shifting dunes into the green oasis of Golden Gate Park.

Over 315,000 preserved amphibians and reptiles in jars.

This private residence was the template for one of the most beloved television homes of all time.

San Francisco's urban bison herd has persisted in the face of extinction, development, and disease.

The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.

San Francisco's newly reopened hands-on science museum.

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

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

Hollywood's most famous landmark, the "temporary" sign that has stood for decades longer than intended.

Resting place of Hollywood's immortals is also site of summer film screenings.

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

This naturally heated mountainous creek has created a group of neon blue pools of potentially deadly boiling water.

Dyed by iron oxide over centuries, these sandstone rocks rise thousands of feet into the sky.

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

The echoes of a railroad town that solemnly mark the end of the line.

A charming desert roadside bakery that produces 10 times more bread daily than it has residents in its town.

Finally the worlds of UFO enthusiasts and beef jerky lovers have come together in this roadside shop.

Four hundred granite steps were built into this massive rock by the National Park Service.

A hotel and restaurant serving as the mecca of kitsch.

Get up close to emus and ostriches, or buy their tasty meat.

California's oldest wind harp represents a historic piece of America's Danish history.

Honoring the famed folktale author, this California museum looks like it belongs in the Black Forest.

A popular winter vacation destination for migrating monarch butterflies.

Thousands of turbines whir at at the origin of North American wind power.