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

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

A tiny red pebble marks what may be the quietest outdoor spot in the United States.

A restaurant on Staten Island showcases a different grandmother’s cooking every night.

When ecosystems collide in the arid Southwest.

Oh, just a motel on the edge of the desert decorated with thousands of clowns conveniently located next to an abandoned graveyard.

Less a museum than a bizarre fantasy world created by artists and engineers.

The highest bridge in America was built for an almost unnervingly small amount of money.

A sculpture made of 10 Cadillacs as a monument to the "Golden Age" of the American automobile.

One of the most scenic stretches of road in America winds between some of the country's oldest trees.

A clear blue swimming hole with hidden caves, still unexplored.

Quite simply the largest tree in the world (by volume).

At this Denver landmark, the meals are compulsory, the sopapillas are complimentary, and the insanity is everywhere.

Make your reservation to have coffee with some kitties.

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

Scores of vintage street lamps shine along L.A.’s Miracle Mile.

An underground mansion with fruit-bearing trees and grapes growing beneath the surface of central California.

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

A modernist landscape of water and sci-fi concrete.

The largest self-built castle in the U.S., six decades in the making.

The second-largest cave chamber in the world was discovered in 1898 by a 16-year-old and a friend known as "Pothead."

Odd outsider art installations surround a Gold Rush-era ghost town.

Towering basalt columns, a creation of fire and ice.

There is no trying to fall in love with this Star Wars fountain, you just do or do not.