The cluster of boulders near Fort Irwin is covered in military insignia.

Crumbling pink walls and murder memorials preserve the pioneer history of Joshua Tree.

The oldest continuously operating church in California.

The only thing stranger than stumbling onto these philosophical musings is the story of the homesteader who created them.

California's oldest wind harp represents a historic piece of America's Danish history.

A popular winter vacation destination for migrating monarch butterflies.

A UFO scrapyard in the California desert.

The key to turning shifting dunes into the green oasis of Golden Gate Park.

This large collection of tiny things revels in the art of fine machinery well made.

Once the gateway to the utopian dream-village of a Civil War embalmer.

It's not your typical library, memorial, or book store.

The Empire Mine is "one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California."

A tree grown from astronaut seeds which were exposed to cosmic rays.

About 80% of all U.S. avocados are descendants of Rudolph Hass's glorious tree.

Forgotten and then destroyed by fire, this was once one of the largest saltwater swimming pools in the world.

This desert oddity hides in plain sight thanks to a cartographic error and a desert explorer with a punny sense of humor.

The only visible piece of San Francisco's most famous shipwreck.

Haunting and beautiful trees, doomed to die.

The dramatic upward-curving roof is one of the most iconic examples of Googie architecture that still stands today.

This museum boasts the ninth-largest collection of insects in North America.

An vast warehouse of everyday treasures in Berkeley, CA.

Three vintage horses survived a 1976 inferno and found a home on a sister carousel.

This odd California folly seems like it was almost designed to accumulate urban legends.

This lesser known Hearst estate is a fairytale village built from the stolen bones of historic European buildings.