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 B&B on a Victorian lighthouse station in San Francisco Bay.

Once America’s most beautiful army base, this abandoned military fort on the coast of Monterey Bay has been left to the elements.

One woman's Viking Castle on Lake Tahoe.

Gold Rush ship-turned-hotel buried underneath San Francisco's financial district.

An amazing collection of fantastic reptiles, amphibians, spiders, and insects.

Nuclear waste dump site now an environmental sanctuary.

Celebrating the transformation of trash into objects of beauty.

Over 315,000 preserved amphibians and reptiles in jars.

Fonts are born and bred here at the oldest letterpress type foundry in the United States.

Nursery with extensive collection of flesh-eating plants operated by the author of "The Savage Garden."

This residential door allows San Francisco muggles a glimpse at the wizarding world.

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

A cozy bookstore is tucked within an old gold mine shaft beneath the cafe and ice cream shop.

A crumbling wizard is one of the final reminders of a roadside Middle Earth.

One of the world's largest collections of rare and magnificent bird specimens.

Bonsai garden in Oakland is curated by the first non-Japanese female bonsai master in the United States.

This dark, quiet forest on the outskirts of San Diego is dense with rumor and lore.

The fossilized remains of ancient California redwoods.

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

Neither Spanish settlers nor anyone since has been able to tell who built these strange California rock walls.

The most unique castle in all of Southern California, entirely constructed from repurposed materials.

This partially buried wreck is one of the most complete of its kind but is only revealed when the sea allows.

San Francisco's oldest surviving monument and meeting place for 1906 survivors.