A spiritual retreat in the heart of Los Angeles offers stunning gardens and a labyrinth to lose yourself in.

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.

A clear blue swimming hole with hidden caves, still unexplored.

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

This semi-secret garden in south Seattle emulates a traditional Japanese garden using the plants of the Pacific Northwest.

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

Giant, natural amphitheaters made of delicate geological formations called "hoodoos."

This serene oasis in an affluent Los Angeles neighborhood holds some of Gandhi's ashes and got Elvis into Eastern Philosophy.

A historic neighborhood church is reborn as a psychedelic arts collective.

Staircase winds down the side of Telegraph Hill through gardens, wild parrots flying overhead.

Oregon's unexpected high desert, displaying layers of time in a colorful show.

Strange red rock formations that have been attributed to a higher power for hundreds of years.

Seattle's own bad art museum located inside Cafe Racer.

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

It's not hard to see why the historic Peabody Conservatory of Music's library has been described as a "cathedral of books."

If drivers cross the rumble strip on this stretch of Route 66 at just the right speed it plays "America the Beautiful."

World-famous, Pink's still manages to keep its prized cult fetish status.

This knobby, drooping New Orleans oak is a favorite place both for climbing and for meeting giraffes.

One of the world's oldest and most massive living organisms is a grove of quaking aspens.

Each year these high desert hills are absolutely covered with poppy flowers in a surreal show of nature.

A technicolor place of worship for Elevationists.

Seemingly grown on some other world, these New Mexico rock formations look like a disused science fiction set.

An underground mansion with fruit-bearing trees and grapes growing beneath the surface of central California.

This frequently-photographed waterfall takes only a short hike to visit.