The oldest continuously operating church in California.

A tree grown from astronaut seeds which were exposed to cosmic rays.

The stately birthplace of California's statehood.

The oldest U.S. Government building in California, and it's State Historic Landmark #1.

An old whaling station now serves to give the public a look at the commercial whaling industry, no longer a part of Monterey's economy.

The first safe in this California town had to hold all the gold.

A small sculpture garden that provides a microcosmic representation of California.

Costumed elves and mountain bikers co-exist peacefully at this abandoned Christmas-themed adventure park.

Three vintage horses survived a 1976 inferno and found a home on a sister carousel.

Scores of vintage street lamps shine along L.A.’s Miracle Mile.

The L.A. Zoo has a secret garden of rare bootleg cycads, a palm specimen dating back 280 million years.

The famous animator's private station house and man-cave was the birthplace of imagineering.

These delicate buggers are some of the rarest fossils that have bubbled up from the Tar Pits.

Historic funicular railway, believed to be the shortest railroad in the world.

Crypt mausoleum in cathedral's basement contains relics of third century Roman martyr, Saint Vibiana.

America's most famous piece of self-built architecture.

The legendary building that needed ghostly approval before being built.

The abandoned zoo enclosures offer a perfect place to experience the other side of the bars.

Mortarless walls that stretch for miles are a lovely solution for creating grazing land in the harsh terrain of the Aran Islands.

A steam trawler with a whiskey-soaked history driven ashore in 1960 resides rusty but still standing on the shoreline.

Secret refuge and museum of the Duke of Florence.

These medieval skyscrapers dominate the skyline of this small Tuscan town.

Medieval torture techniques with a modern conscience.

A dismembered holy head stares out from her beautiful reliquary at the St. Dominic Basilica.