Places westcoastspirit Wants to Go

This Parisian café sticks almost exclusively to an ethos of reuse.

Pick up all of the cosmic knick-knacks under the sun or take a creative writing course, all offered in this novelty storefront.

This chilly Canadian hotel has a four-month lifespan due to the unusual material it's made of.

The world's first ice hotel is still one of the most elaborate and beautiful.

A colossal floating restaurant built to look like a ancient Chinese imperial palace.

Oldest surviving example of a Dutch saltbox frame house in America.

This historic Victorian hotel has a scandalous history of affairs and murder.

This historic stone bridge has an entire neighborhood clinging to its sides.

This Great Plains museum pays tribute to both the prosperity and tragedy of the North American fur trade.

Otherworldly rock formations and ancient fossils abound in this unique stretch of Nebraska badlands.

Abandoned businesses, homes, and rusted cars are all that remains of this stopover town.

A cemetery housing wild west legends in South Dakota.

Yes, this monument is aware that it is about 20 miles away from the actual center of the United States.

The world's largest mountain carving could fit all of Mount Rushmore inside it many times over.

The granddaddy of all tourist traps, built on ice water, jackalopes, and a giant dinosaur.

An Alaska livestock farm devotes itself to harvesting wool from creatures that once ran with mammoths and sabertooth tigers.

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.

Storyville was New Orleans' historic red light district and hotbed of jazz music, sometimes referred to simply as "The District."

The remains of a failed attempt at medieval nerdery are hidden deep in the woods of Virginia.

This war hero's old shop remembers the fine line between medicine and quackery during the Revolutionary War.

North Central Florida's largest flea market and a weekend roadtripper's dream.

The remains of a magnificent medieval fortress that was the capital of a vast empire.

A Moroccan getaway in the mountain range that plays the Himalayas' stunt double.

A self-made museum in Queens, New York continues to display the work of a sculptor known for paving his own way.