Places Sandi Hemmerlein Wants to Go

A grove of colossal man-made flowers built to collect the sun's rays.

One part antique store, one part curiosities hodge-podge.

This unique structure in suburban Austin is made up entirely of other people's castaways, and constantly changing.

Continuing the tradition of the dime museum in style.

Visitors can walk over the largest concentration of Columbian mammoths to have died from one event.

Official museum, hall of fame, and repository of the Texas Rangers.

The gambling entrepreneur who built a city was also an avid collector of classic cars.

This redwood is a historic landmark, a town’s namesake, and the dancing sideline symbol of Stanford University.

The first project by the Bureau of Reclamation illustrates both the upsides and downsides of reclamation.

An elaborate gift from Claus Spreckels is now a piece of San Francisco history.

27-room home built with the fortune of a sugar magnate.

This grinning pup statue is all that's left of what was once a ubiquitous Bay Area diner chain.

One of few lasting examples of the brief octagon craze that developed into folly.

The oldest burial ground in the city, final resting place of city founders, Ohlone natives and murderers alike.

What began as a prominent Burning Man art piece is now an iconic symbol of downtown Reno.

One of the best places to dig—some say on the planet—for six different types of chalcedony.

This unique landscape is the only place in the world to dig for hourglass-selenite crystals.

The tea room that pushed the boundaries of adorable straight into... we can't find the words.

The one-time watch house for incoming ships at the Golden Gate now stands abandoned and hidden in trees.

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

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

A psychedelic labyrinth on the San Francisco bay.

A huge railroad museum with over 100 pieces of rolling stock focusing on the railroad history of Pennsylvania.

The train collection of an eccentric New England seafood mogul is now a National Historical Site.