This sun-scorched lakebed contains samples of half the natural elements known to humankind.

Rusty industrial city full of oxidized distillation towers.

The long, arduous journey of the stones of the Abbey of New Clairvaux.

Machinery left over from California's once thriving mercury industry now attracts artists and explorers.

This forgotten Frank Lloyd Wright house is an architectural marvel at the end of a sleepy residential street.

The overgrown ruins of a once thriving World War I-era copper mine.

A Bicycle Path in the Sky.

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

Happy harbor seals frolic and snooze on this warm, sandy stretch of coast.

An alley covered with 20 years of bubble gum.

Once close to extinction, there is no shortage of elephant seals on the beaches of Año Nuevo State Park.

This sculpture garden in Death Valley makes you feel like you've slipped into some alternate reality.

Swarms of butterflies cannot compare to the awe inspired by the publicly-funded nakedness once displayed in this sunken garden.

A brooding mansion of clinker brick stands out among the Victorian houses of Pacific Heights.

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

A raised boardwalk winds through a thicket of stunted, century-old trees no more than nine feet tall.

Barely visible foundations remain where Stow Lake’s “observatory” once welcomed visitors.

An ultra-modern vista that has been featured in so many films the house is a celebrity in its own right.

Gorgeous purple flowers drape from the world's largest blossoming plant.

Celebrating the transformation of trash into objects of beauty.

San Francisco's oldest operating hotel, with a Victorian atmosphere and a "haunted" fourth floor.

Millions of years of oxidation make a drive down this winding Death Valley road surprisingly colorful.

The world's largest wooden trestle stretches across this desert canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

The largest dune field in the Mojave offers a chance of hearing the 'singing sands.'