In the middle of an extremely unforgiving and desolate high desert is the most secret military facility in the world.

An exotic wildlife habitat right off The Strip.

One of the world's tallest Ferris wheels takes visitors high above Las Vegas in a spinning party room.

Dyed by iron oxide over centuries, these sandstone rocks rise thousands of feet into the sky.

Brightly colored 30-foot-tall totems light up the desert sky just outside Las Vegas.

The unbelievably opulent home built for an infamous newspaperman.

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

One of the few remaining carousels built by master amusement park carver Charles I.D. Looff.

A hotel and restaurant serving as the mecca of kitsch.

An alley covered with 20 years of bubble gum.

Finally the worlds of UFO enthusiasts and beef jerky lovers have come together in this roadside shop.

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

Honoring the famed folktale author, this California museum looks like it belongs in the Black Forest.

The abandoned personal amusement park of the King of Pop.

A desert ghost town—occupied for only 12 years—was once home to more than 500 silver mines.

A popular winter vacation destination for migrating monarch butterflies.

In the days before HD projectors and IMAX, some of the most powerful projectors belonged to planetariums.

The "3rd largest" city in California is an empty mirage of suburbia in the middle of nowhere.

Abandoned hotel with adjacent lake and golf course.

Thousands of turbines whir at at the origin of North American wind power.

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

Inky sludge oozes to the surface of this beach thanks to a rare natural tar seep.

Hundreds of trees made from glass bottles make up this forest on Route 66.

Graffiti-covered ruins that were once part of a farm owned by a mental hospital.