Standing in a state of "arrested decay," this ghost town allows for a detailed peek into Gold Rush life in an unusually harsh climate.

Small Nevada town embraced its designation as the "Armpit of America" with an Old Spice-sponsored festival.

The world's largest dead polar bear, immortalized by taxidermy and Hunter S. Thompson.

A gothic palace of endless stalagmites and pseudoscorpions waits within one of the world's most beautiful caves.

In the middle of a remote desert town is a surprisingly opulent hotel.

This massive crater in the middle of nowhere was used to train astronauts for moon landings.

Oh, just a motel on the edge of the desert decorated with thousands of clowns conveniently located next to an abandoned graveyard.

This once bustling boomtown hotel is now the hottest spot in Nevada for ghost hunters.

Officially named the "Loneliest Road in America," this barren stretch of Nevada road offers almost nothing but sky and open fields.

This railroad magnate's 19th century tower is more than a little bit out of place in the Nevada desert.

An art collective teaching the more fiery, metal-y art forms.

One of the best absinthe distilleries in the United States.

The newsstand that never closes its doors—well, almost never.

An abandoned convention space that has been left to the homeless and the radical.

Dive bar built out of the remains of a whaling ship.

Antiques by the Bay.

Playable, historic pinball machines fill this Alameda museum.

An homage to everyone's favorite prehistoric cartoon family.

Explore the largest pure gypsum deposit in the world, and go dune sledding while you're at it.

A small metropolis of Pueblo cave dwellings have been carved right into the hillside of this national monument.

A unique geological area spiked with wind-carved rocks that resemble teepees.

The official atomic museum of the United States explores the explosive and productive history of a much maligned energy source.

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.

This city square is home to Amsterdam's oldest church and a statue honoring Dutch sex workers.