This Hawaiian cattle ranch acts as a museum devoted to the island cowboys that predate the wild west.

The southernmost point in the United States is a beautiful place to look at but a deadly place to wade in.

This blowhole is supposedly caused by a trapped monster.

Take shelter from Hawai'i's tropical heat under the massive canopy of largest Banyan tree on the island.

Earth's tallest volcano is sacred to Native Hawaiians, and home to a dozen world-class observatories.

A bomb shelter and some fireplaces are all that remain of the house Fred Roberts tried so hard to keep standing.

This Oakland fairytale kingdom, fiercely devoted to childlike whimsy, was an early inspiration for Disneyland.

This turn of the century masterpiece has a mysterious goaty interloper.

The giant pair of sexy legs sticking out the window of this costume store have become its main draw.

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

San Francisco's urban bison herd has persisted in the face of extinction, development, and disease.

The key to turning shifting dunes into the green oasis of Golden Gate Park.

The best place in the park to test out your throwing arm.

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

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

Longtime headquarters of controversial boys' club for the world's wealthiest and most powerful.

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

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

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

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

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

A working model of the entire San Francisco Bay and much of the Sacramento River Delta, complete with regular tides that change every 14 minutes.

A huge work of Burning Man-inspired outsider art on the grounds of a California winery.

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