Ride on a fully-restored Nike nuclear-tipped missile elevator from the Cold War.

Internationally-recognized arts center housed in a century-old former military barracks.

This lighthouse has been guiding shipping into the Golden Gate since before the American Civil War.

Beneath the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge is the “Gibraltar of the West Coast,” a fort built to protect the San Francisco Bay from naval attack.

These WWII-era murals were initially booed as a libelous portrayal of the American dream but have survived multiple attempts to have them destroyed.

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

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.

Depicting scenes of everyday life - and specific individuals - in Great Depression era San Francisco.

Once the largest windmill outside of Holland, with enormous 114 foot sails.

At night, a grove of towering redwood trees growing through the pavement block out all light from the so-called “Dark Park” of Madrone Avenue.

A 200-year-old collection of oddities and medical paraphernalia.

The second-largest giant sequoia in the world.

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

Like a kitschy mirage in the Mojave, this eatery serves up classic 50s-style diner meals and a dinosaur sculpture garden.

A massive hydrovolcanic explosion left a half-mile wide crater in Death Valley.

This massive metal sculpture in the shape of a folded paper airplane overlooks a Utah mountain.

The tragedy of the Japanese internment camps is remembered here by a stark "Soul Consoling Tower."

The southernmost outpost of the Russian Empire in colonial America.

This rare example of a "tidefall" is a spectacular drop from the cliffs down onto the beach.

The lighthouse central to the 1980s horror classic "The Fog" is, in fact, located in one of the foggiest areas of the Pacific Coast.

An enchanting tunnel of cypress trees leads to an old morse code station still used today.

This abandoned boat was left in place thanks to its rotting beauty.

This Nevada lake holds its titular natural pyramid and, if the legends are true, a number of dangerous spirits.