griffinariela's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Mecca, California

Salton Sea

The ghostly remains of an accidental sea.
Calipatria, California

Slab City

This abandoned Navy base was transformed into an off-grid alternative living community for thousands of people.
Montreal, Québec

Gibeau Orange Julep

The skyline of Montreal includes the silhouette of an unexpected fruit-shaped Canadian staple.
Al Lahoun, Egypt

The Pyramid of Senusret II

It might not be the prettiest pyramid in Egypt, but it may be the muddiest.
Qesm Sharm Ash Sheikh, Egypt

Blue Desert

Brightly painted boulders scattered throughout the Sinai Desert.
Qesm Hurghada, Egypt

Desert Breath

A massive work of modern art that appears to be a crop circle in the middle of the desert.
Qesm Al Wahat Ad Dakhlah, Egypt

Great Sand Sea Glass of the Libyan Desert

Even King Tut was intrigued by the glass of the Great Sand Sea.
Cairo, Egypt

Nilometer

An ancient instrument used to measure the waters of the Nile so Egyptian farmers would know whether to expect famine or flood.
Mexico City, Mexico

La Posada del Sol

Meant to be one of the most extravagant hotels in the world, now an eerie, abandoned architectural gem in Mexico City.
Bologna, Italy

Finestrella di Via Piella

A small window on Via Piella offers a lovely and rare peek at Bologna's lost canals.
Venice, Italy

Giant Hands of Venice’s Grand Canal

A new sculpture calls attention to climate change in the centuries-old city it threatens.
Germantown, Maryland

Earthoid Water Tank

The whole world in one water tank.
Park County, Montana

Grasshopper Glacier

A rapidly disappearing glacier filled with extinct grasshoppers, perfectly preserved in the ice.
Sydney, Australia

'Forgotten Songs' Sound Sculpture

A collaboration of art and ornithology mourns the calls of Sydney's lost birds.
Ketura, Israel

Judean Date Palm Methuselah

This tree was extinct for a thousand years before sprouting again from a 2,000-year-old seed.
San Francisco, California

Esmeralda Slide Park

A pair of slides and a tree-lined stair corridor have been an urban oasis for nearly 40 years.
Fackler, Alabama

Neversink Pit

This natural wonder drops 16 stories straight down through rare flora and streaming waterfalls.
Devon Island, Nunavut

Haughton Impact Crater

The closest thing to Mars on Earth.
Sanborn Township, Michigan

Dinosaur Gardens

One man’s vision of living among dinosaurs credits Jesus Christ as the engine of biological evolution.
Meadville, Pennsylvania

PennDOT Road Sign Sculpture Garden

The Pennsylvania landscape depicted by a quarter mile of mosaics made from used road signs.
Marshfield, Wisconsin

Jurustic Park

"Iron Age" creatures fill this huckster's rusted metal sculpture garden.
Athens, Wisconsin

45 X 90 Geographical Marker

The center of the only hemisphere that awards visitors with a commemorative coin.
Cora, Wyoming

Gannett Peak

The easiest way to the highest point in Wyoming is only accessible via one hefty fee.
Siegen, Germany

Ziegenberg Gasometer

One of the only spherical 19th century gas containers left today.