This Big Sur waterfall drops 80 feet directly into the Pacific Ocean, and inspired the hillside house up top.

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

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

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

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

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

A "gravitational anomaly" located in the redwood forests just outside of Santa Cruz, California.

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

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

A peculiar mansion built by the troubled heir to the Winchester Rifle Company fortune.

A safari-themed castle in the South African bush with the largest maze in the southern hemisphere.

The palatial McDonald's that inspired Wesley Willis.

The unluckiest U-boat in the entire German fleet is now on display in a Chicago museum.

Fragments of architectural wonders from around the globe are embedded in the newspaper building's walls.

This historic hotel invented the chocolate brownie.

The only Bahá'í house of worship in North America and one of only a handful worldwide.

A hollow cement depiction of time's inexorable effect on the human body.

Four glass boxes hover over 1,000 feet in the air to give visitors an unparalleled view of Chicago.

According to the legend, this strikingly beautiful hill has miraculous healing powers.

What appears to be a wizard's lair in Milwaukee actually houses a massive water pipe.

A wonderfully curated used bookstore in an airport.

A unique botanical garden housed in three giant geodesic domes.

A giant, Gilded Age mansion that once belonged to the beer baron of Milwaukee.

A house and yard adorned with bizarre concrete sculptures in a Milwaukee suburb.