The interior of the Overlook Hotel in "The Shining" was based on this Yosemite original.

Aqueducts have dramatically changed this old lake, now home to tufa towers and its very own species of tiny brine shrimp.

This naturally heated mountainous creek has created a group of neon blue pools of potentially deadly boiling water.

Towering basalt columns, a creation of fire and ice.

A dwindling menagerie of anthropomorphic oil derrick animals still dot the barren California landscape.

A giant chess set, minus the psychedelic drug trip.

A peculiar mansion built by the troubled heir to the Winchester Rifle Company fortune.

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

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

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

Offering commanding views of the California coastline, this restaurant was a hub for the artists and bohemians of Big Sur.

Life in this isolated, hilltop lighthouse was lonely, but it sure was lovely.

This concrete ship has had four careers - World War I tanker, floating amusement park, fishing pier, and artificial reef.

One poet's handmade, anachronistic home.

Haunting and beautiful trees, doomed to die.

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

Two rocks in a perpetual kiss and one of "the most romantic spot in America."

The stately birthplace of California's statehood.

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

This eagle-topped spire remembers the military commander who snatched up California for the United States.

The oldest continuously operating church in California.

The first safe in this California town had to hold all the gold.

An old whaling station now serves to give the public a look at the commercial whaling industry, no longer a part of Monterey's economy.

The oldest U.S. Government building in California, and it's State Historic Landmark #1.