Places birresus Wants to Go

For decades, the largest tungsten producer in the U.S. was located in a spectacular setting in the high Sierra Nevada, with some of the workings over 11,000 feet.

This former Texas landfill is flush with 300 million-year-old fossils, all fit for the taking.

Winter weather reveals a large Italian marble crucifix drowned beneath Lake Michigan.

A popular place to pick up prehistoric coral fossils from the time when Michigan was an ocean.

Hundreds of glow-in-the-dark objects light up a museum in a historic zinc mine.

Founded by members of the Tohono O’odham Nation, this one-room joint's James Beard–winning fry bread is light as a cloud.

Oh, just a motel on the edge of the desert decorated with thousands of clowns conveniently located next to an abandoned graveyard.

There's nothing creepier than a cemetery next to a clown motel.

An errant donkey ushered in a new era of mining in Nevada.

In the middle of a remote desert town is a surprisingly opulent hotel.

Get a taste of the Wild West and a glimpse into the gold rush in Goldfield's oldest continually-running business.

This once bustling boomtown hotel is now the hottest spot in Nevada for ghost hunters.

Eulogizing an unknown man's unusual demise.

Graffiti-covered ruins that were once part of a farm owned by a mental hospital.

Malibu's first beach home features an astonishing trove of ceramic tiles.

These cinderblock farmhouses were actually World War II radar stations in disguise.

About 80% of all U.S. avocados are descendants of Rudolph Hass's glorious tree.

This sculpture garden in Death Valley makes you feel like you've slipped into some alternate reality.

This graveyard is the eternal home of the residents of a vanished California town.

Travelers leave tea kettles in a remote part of Death Valley as part of a mysterious, decades-old tradition.

This sun-scorched lakebed contains samples of half the natural elements known to humankind.

The fossilized remains of ancient California redwoods.

One of the oldest reform schools in the United States, home to wayward boys such as Merle Haggard, now abandoned.

Over 100 million years ago, beach-bound dinosaurs left permanent marks on San Antonio's landscape.