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

A large instrument played by the wind.

One of the most scenic stretches of road in America winds between some of the country's oldest trees.

Haunting and beautiful trees, doomed to die.

This cabin from the 1850s is one of the first structures built by Chinese immigrants in California.

One poet's handmade, anachronistic home.

The oldest farmer's market in America is so ancient it was approved by the King of England.

An imperial church bombed to ruins during WWII now stands as a jagged memorial.

This crucial gathering spot along the "hippie trail" still displays old notes between traveling beatniks and backpackers.

The former home of Samuel Clemens and family remembers the happiest period of the author's life.

A mysteriously dark cemetery monument fuels stories and legends galore.

A place of great reverence for Trekkies everywhere, a hero's future birthplace.

The so-called "Bridge of Thighs" in Palm Springs allows nudists to discreetly cross the road.

This giant temperature attraction created some giant electric bills.

The American Home, Re-imagined.

This massive redwood tree has a hole in the base big enough to drive through.

Coastal dunes, site of buried Egyptian movie set and former utopian colony.

An alley covered with 20 years of bubble gum.

A local dialect born in the late 19th century is only spoken in this isolated California valley.

This whimsical seashell-shaped place of worship was designed to blend into its surroundings.

This fully intact Neoclassical-Greek Revival style firehouse operated until 1938.

This Big Sur waterfall drops 80 feet directly into the Pacific Ocean, and inspired the hillside house up top.

Steinbeck's old stomping grounds, immortalized in Cannery Row.

The oldest lighthouse on America's west coast no longer needs keepers, yet they maintain the site anyhow.