A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

The miraculous hydrant that saved the Mission District in 1906.

Not merely a museum – but a whirring powerhouse that offers a subterranean peek into the heart and soul of cable car operations.

A hidden subterranean installation offers a view of the sky.

This concrete tangle of square pipes has stood as a proud thorn in the city's side since the '70s.

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

A shop full of natural curiosities, carnivorous plants, and costumed taxidermied mice.

A collection of 20th-century automata, penny arcade games, and musical contraptions.

An essential stop before plundering, BYO Cutlass.

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

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

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

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.

This little Vancouver shack is a temple to all things Hendrix.

An effigy of Vancouver's Gastown neighorhood's namesake.

This enormous photomural pays homage to Vancouver's infamous history of public activism.

A hat for every occasion can be found in this British Columbia haunt.

This scenic waterfront swimming pool is the longest salt water pool in North America.

After spending more than a century on the ocean floor, this shipwrecked column is finally resting atop solid ground.

This giant roadside goose has been hailing travelers into a small Ontario town for over 50 years.

The ruins of Vancouver's abandoned heritage railway.

Possibly the world's largest coin stands just outside of a Canadian science center.