Where NASA's satellites and rovers phone home.

Peek inside this sandy mailbox and you'll spot kids' letters to Santa.

This secluded date farm can be reached only by following a bumpy, single-lane desert road.

Sunset-colored dunes of volcanic ash make taking a poor photo impossible.

Secret Manor, a house full of legends, the least of which is the haunting of long-deceased ladies of pleasure.

Standing in a state of "arrested decay," this ghost town allows for a detailed peek into Gold Rush life in an unusually harsh climate.

Built by the inventor of the radio, this abandoned hotel has housed early radio employees, military men, and a dangerous cult.

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

Once the gateway to the utopian dream-village of a Civil War embalmer.

An abandoned, unfinished mansion on grounds strewn with lava rocks.

Law-protected wreckage serves as a peculiar memorial for an almost forgotten World War II tragedy.

The location of the last stand of Charles Manson's doomsday cult.

A 140-year-old castle with underground caves hidden in San Francisco.

This large pile of traveler-curated rocks by the dry lakebed is a longstanding tradition on the Old Mojave Road.

A former utopian healing center created by a huckster and built by derelicts.

Remnants of the United States's largest accidental oil spill still mar a California valley.

At the base of Steens Mountain resides an otherworldly desert.

The land is full of geologic eye candy, such as otherworldly spires, mushroom-shaped hoodoos, and prehistoric fossils.

An enchanting rocky island of scraggly baobabs surrounded by an ancient sea and sprawling salt pans.

These hellish-looking cliffs in the Canadian Arctic have been burning for centuries.

The first life claimed by this record-breaking peak wasn't lost to exposure or a fall but rather lightning.

You can swim in these highly salty, mesmerizingly blue lakes in the Atacama Desert.

A prohibition-style speakeasy takes up residence in the last Victorian residence in Hollywood.

It should come as no surprise that the best view of the Hollywood sign is from Batman's lair.