The fossilized remains of ancient California redwoods.

California's own medieval Italian castle, authentic down to the 300-year-old iron maiden in the dungeon.

A ruined hotel with an unlucky history and an eerie present.

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

This fully intact Neoclassical-Greek Revival style firehouse operated until 1938.

California's oldest existing theater building hosted an impressive cast of celebrities, including hosting Mark Twain's first lecture.

A watering hole where the options for seating include a bar, patio, or subterranean cave.

"You don't need a rocket scientist to build a steam engine, but we've got one." -Museum docent on the credentials of a restoration volunteer.

A fine mixture of the old and the new topped with an art deco neon spire.

The Empire Mine is "one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California."

Built in 1895, this bed and breakfast was once a hospital that served an early 1900s Gold Rush boomtown.

A rich history stashed behind an unassuming door in the heart of Gold Country.

Established in 1853, this crumbling cemetery sits forgotten on the corner of Church and Chapel in Gold Country.

The largest drain hole in the world.

This museum looks at the history of one of America's most famous prisons and most beloved albums.

This graffiti-covered bridge is the quintessential vision of a place for disillusioned youth to escape the complexities of burgeoning adulthood.

Outsider art or homage to aliens?

Special tunnels built so that frogs won't be killed when crossing the highway.

Puzzling...this tree looks like an assemblage of dismembered monkey limbs.

An eccentric home stands out in an otherwise average neighborhood with mosaics, mini topiaries, and kinetic sculpture.

The capitol city's oldest existing cemetery.

I Street Bridge is the heaviest swinging center bridge in the United States.

American bison herd descending directly from a Bronx Zoo breeding program that saved the species from extinction.

Final resting place of Geronimo, Quanah Parker, and the first atomic gun ever fired.