A dwindling menagerie of anthropomorphic oil derrick animals still dot the barren California landscape.

This New Orleans tree is filled with hidden chimes that produce a carefully tuned melody.

A building that was once a general store, a speakeasy, and a newspaper office now holds a small gallery filled with New Orleans photography.

This knobby, drooping New Orleans oak is a favorite place both for climbing and for meeting giraffes.

A theme park that suffered massive flooding during Katrina was abandoned, and now proves irresistible to trespassing explorers.

While you're unlikely to find riches here these days, this remote mine is a time capsule of the Gold Rush era.

This outdoor observatory offers stellar views and a scale model of our solar system.

Crumbling pink walls and murder memorials preserve the pioneer history of Joshua Tree.

The decaying adobe remains of an old homestead are just off the beaten path in Joshua Tree National Park.

A fake town founded by Western movie stars is now becoming a hip desert community.

The ruins of an ancient Mayan city, beautifully preserved and only accessible by boat.

Three small rooms in the jungle house the most elaborate and intact murals of the Mayan world.

This angular Dwarven tunnel cuts through a mountainside in Glacier National Park.

This amazingly preserved Gold Rush town is a historian's dream.

A Looff creation in Santa Monica best described as “a California-Byzantine-Moorish-style fantasy.”

An offbeat angle on the ocean viewed through an antiquated lens.

This park is home to well over 100 handmade birdhouses.

A small sculpture garden that provides a microcosmic representation of California.

One of the largest helium balloons in the U.S. is a 112-foot ginormous orange.

Remants of foundations, streets, and streetcar tracks inhabit the cliffs where a landslide occurred in 1929.

The 10-foot-wide Long Beach home was built on a dare.

The awe-inspiring ship from the golden era of cruising has an incomparable history and a reputation as one of the world’s most haunted places.

Exotic feline breeding compound and conservation center.

This beautiful ridge-top trail is dotted by tiny homes apparently built by a group of itinerant fairies.