Inside this library turned museum, the history of Modesto and Stanislaus County is on full display.

The interior of the Overlook Hotel in "The Shining" was based on this Yosemite original.

A Mysterious Masonic tomb in San Luis Obispo.

A massive volcanic plug is now a protected area that hosts a number of bird species.

This stretch of beach along California's central coast is a busy highway for the largest seal in the northern hemisphere.

A hotel and restaurant serving as the mecca of kitsch.

A deserted hodgepodge of experimental structures designed by nearby university students.

The unbelievably opulent home built for an infamous newspaperman.

A remote crossroads honoring a fallen talent.

This mountaintop beacon is only lit three times a year but shines like some kind of all-seeing eye.

This giant shopping mall still holds signs of its automotive past.

This quaint archive of the silent era preserves and pays homage to a seminal moment in film history.

A Roman-inspired temple once controlled half of San Francisco's waters.

The timepiece that exonerated a labor radical accused of a parade bombing that killed ten people.

The former Naval shipyard is open for exploring - mostly.

A historic hotel in an old California railroad town with a rowdy reputation.

Thousands of crosses and markers for soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan blanket a California hillside.

An "anarchical" no man's land, complete with garbage sculptures and a hobo-run "Landfillian Library."

A 90-acre park on former landfill that hosts an annual kite festival.

A store that sells all manner of bones, insects, and animal curiosities.

A unique market that brings together various goods and cultures.

From buttons to beads, flounces to fripperies, this textile museum and shop honors the history of needlework.

A shape-shifting buy-sell-trade bookstore, born to Beatnik Era spirit.

The Laureates here get something even more coveted than a Nobel Prize: free parking for life.