The first U.S. town to secede from the Union, only to vote themselves right back in.

The world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory continues to report on the stars.

Location of the most powerful laser in the world, and the potential birthplace of tiny stars.

An abandoned Jazz Age dream home and con man's hideout in Death Valley.

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

Four hundred granite steps were built into this massive rock by the National Park Service.

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

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

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

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.

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