A floating cat sanctuary on an Amsterdam canal.

An antique Beechcraft airplane serves as a giant windsock for people driving through the blustery open country of eastern Wyoming.

This prison-turned-museum is a remnant of the Old West's grizzly, violent past.

The largest hot spring in the United States is, as the name suggests, a stunning show of natural color.

A beautiful geyser under environmental threat.

Two small markers remember the Alamo's feline protectors.

Hidden in a hotel parking lot is a strange historical plaque erected by an obscure fraternal society.

The beauty and the beast of hydraulic mining is on full display at this California Historic State Park.

This quirky UFO-shaped curiosity is often mistaken for the airport’s control tower.

These four islands right offshore have waterfalls, colorful lights, fancy buildings, and a secret purpose.

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

The California capital city once stood 10 feet lower than it does today.

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

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

340 bicycles, 65 feet high.

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

Not merely a museum – but a whirring powerhouse that offers a subterranean peek into the heart and soul of cable car operations.

The now-abandoned tunnels were built for the transcontinental railroad on the route where the first wagon train entered California.

Abandoned bridge hidden deep in the San Gabriel Mountains.

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

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

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

After this former brothel closed, its interior remained almost frozen in time.

It was once used as a classroom to teach mining skills to local high school students.