Vacant Beaux-Arts buildings that serve as reminders of a beach town’s glory days.

The lead horse on a Disneyland merry-go-round that is older than the park itself.

Home to a forest of whimsical pygmy Coast live oak.

The second-largest giant sequoia in the world.

A chain of bells connect the California Missions and honor the legend of the "King’s Highway."

Colorado Boulevard’s historic bookstore, operating since the bustling city of Pasadena was merely some orange groves and a few ostrich farms.

This crumbling Death Valley mining complex was known for its use of giant, 20-mule team wagons.

This giant temperature attraction created some giant electric bills.

A shockingly detailed small scale recreation of the temples of Abu Simbel.

This stretch of beach along California's central coast is a busy highway for the largest seal in the northern hemisphere.

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

"Only the devil could play golf here."

A former utopian healing center created by a huckster and built by derelicts.

An unfortunate geological resemblance to Satan has labeled this Pasadena gorge as a passage to the underworld.

The lowest point in North America is home to an undrinkable pool surrounded by fields of geometric salt flats.

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

This small, but beautiful waterfall has attracted visits from artists, composers, and two United States presidents.

This taxidermic smorgasbord was co-created by an artist poached from the Museum of Natural History.

Hub of Scandinavian culture in a Minneapolis deli.

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.

An unusual assortment of art, furniture, and other curiosities.

It was originally part of a "terrible lizards" collection at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

This lagomorph-obsessed Route 66 emporium is home to a giant jackrabbit that sits in a bunny graveyard.

Once one of the world's great cities, Cahokia was a place of religious worship, trade and mass human sacrifice before being mysteriously abandoned.