This historic estate on the east shore of Lake Tahoe was home to an eccentric millionaire (and his pet elephant, Mingo).

A waterfall and cave near Arroyo Seco that inspired the writings of D. H. Lawrence, Willa Cather, and Mabel Dodge Luhan.

One man’s passion for gas stations is on display along the Rio Grande in northern New Mexico.

This eclectic, mosaic-clad home includes a bamboo ping-pong loft and a "Whispermaphones" intercom.

A small island hides in plain sight on Austin's Lady Bird Lake.

A view-altering observatory at the University of Texas.

The world's smallest movie theater runs on solar power—an attraction in itself.

A store full of vintage and indie toys designed to bring out the kid in even the crustiest of adults.

A 90-year-old underground water reservoir offers a more industrial kind of tranquility.

A medieval castle in the middle of rural Texas.

Built to replace a house destroyed by a hurricane, this home is made entirely of shipping containers.

One man's homage to the orange as realized through a long-term folk art labor of love.

A modernist landscape of water and sci-fi concrete.

The 19th-century ruins hide deep in an overgrown forest.

Foragers once flocked to this big beautiful bayou to hunt for pearls.

A beautiful South Korean gate and garden in Little Rock honors American Taekwondo.

A mysterious light floating in the trees of Arkansas may be a piezoelectric effect.

A floating museum that was sunk by a flood and left to rot in the tides.

A late sculptor's last project was to turn this abandoned cement factory into a castle-themed amusement park.

Less a museum than a bizarre fantasy world created by artists and engineers.

This small, but long-running hobby club has built one of the largest model rail lines in the US.

The 606 is a decade in the making.

An outdoor urban gallery of large-scale artworks by the world's most influential street artists.

Combination beer garden and music venue in the heart of Wicker Park.