Julia Morgan's Moorish-Gothic labyrinth of fountains, trees, natural light and Oakland's notable dead.

This world-class vineyard has a peculiar collection of contemporary sculptures scattered across the property.

This teeny-tiny park built by a San Francisco man in 1962 is mostly stairs.

A fire lookout atop a glacial pinnacle is reached by climbing three vertiginous flights of stairs.

Across Ring Mountain is a vast collection of Native American petroglyphs unique to the region.

This museum explores the history of the book, from scrolls to mass-produced objects through tools, stories, and massive cast-iron binding machinery (some of it operational).

A creepy steel gremlin has protected the Bay Bridge since 1989.

A home covered with elaborate mosaic and other pieces of art.

One of the largest Buddhist communities in the West sits on the site of an old hospital.

A bronze tribute to a legendary Californian, the self-proclaimed "Emperor of the United States."

This contorting sculpture is the tallest in San Francisco.

A living time capsule of the 1960s Richardson Bay water-front.

A quiet nook at the top of a little-known hilltop park named after California's first poet laureate.

Of all the origin stories for weed's secret code, this one likely has the goods.

A huge work of Burning Man-inspired outsider art on the grounds of a California winery.

This mysterious series of teeny guerrilla installations sheds a whimsical light on street art in Oakland.

A giant chess set, minus the psychedelic drug trip.

Oakland's beautiful monumental cemetery.

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

A life-sized mammoth sculpture marks the spot where the remains of a Columbian mammoth were discovered in 2005.

A watering hole where the options for seating include a bar, patio, or subterranean cave.

A sudden forest of traditional Papua New Guinean art works is hidden in a corner of Stanford University.

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

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