The only parking meter in the entire town, it is surrounded by 100 free spaces.

The huge granite obelisk that towers over a small California town.

Standing in a state of "arrested decay," this ghost town allows for a detailed peek into Gold Rush life in an unusually harsh climate.

A glimpse into the lives of the the Miwok and Paiute people in Yosemite National Park.

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

A herd of 150 bison live on California's Santa Catalina Island and are at the heart of an ongoing debate between environmental protection and economic expansion.

A world-class observatory in the California desert.

Oldest building in California still in use.

This California tree is the single source of the state's entire orange industry.

The Citrus Variety Collection at UC Riverside contains two trees of each of the 1,000+ varieties of citrus.

This unlicensed collection of fast-food memorabilia sits on the site of the first ever McDonald's restaurant.

Costumed elves and mountain bikers co-exist peacefully at this abandoned Christmas-themed adventure park.

Named after a bandit and the star of several Hollywood prehistoric landscapes, these sandstone formations are a historical part of the Los Angeles natural landscape.

Each year these high desert hills are absolutely covered with poppy flowers in a surreal show of nature.

Decommissioned experimental solar facilities that pioneered solar energy technology.

Like a kitschy mirage in the Mojave, this eatery serves up classic 50s-style diner meals and a dinosaur sculpture garden.

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

Where NASA's satellites and rovers phone home.

This giant temperature attraction created some giant electric bills.

This secluded date farm can be reached only by following a bumpy, single-lane desert road.

Marta Becket's hand-painted theater in the desert.

Water of undetermined depth has attracted rare fish and cult leaders alike.

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

Twelve plaster figures inspired by da Vinci's famed painting haunt the desert landscape above a real-life ghost town.