An emerald-green grotto just a short trip from Austin.

The drama of nature in full effect in this Nevada State Park.

The unusual burial monument of Arizona's first governor.

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

The hike through a narrow river flanked by the 2,000-foot-tall walls of Zion Canyon is one of the best in the world.

Dramatic river bend surrounds a natural red-rocked pedestal.

An exotic wildlife habitat right off The Strip.

A spiritual vortex among the red rocks in Sedona.

I-95's Tijuana-style celebration of kitsch at the Carolina border.

This shifting North Carolina sand dune is an odd little desert surrounded by oceanic forest life.

The Cadillac Ranch for monster truck aficionados.

What began as an art installation is now the private drinkhaüs for a brewery's employees.

This tiny patch of arid sand sits in one of the greenest states in the United States.

Practice your Dirty Dancing lifts in the manmade lake where Johnny Castle himself did.

The world's largest fire hydrant is supposedly tornado-proof.

This psychedelic tromp l'oeil seems to be beckoning drivers to crash into a wall.

This titanic steel chain linking two buildings was installed without permission but instantly beloved.

Must form and function forever remain at odds? Not if the Florida Department of Transportation has its way.

Meet manatees face-to-face at this zoo for native species.

This miniature feudal castle was built on a whim to honor a US Navy pioneer.

A toweringly silly piece of modern art has been delighting locals since the 1980s.

Home to the Amorphophallus titanum "Corpse Flower," which is among the largest flowers in the world and also smells powerfully of rotting flesh when in bloom.

Equal parts record-breaking temple to consumerism and bizarre fun park, it's more than you think it is...

The museum chronicling a treasure hunter's dream, fulfilled.