This extravagant Art Nouveau rest stop features a million-dollar view of the Columbia River.

These old stone ruins in the Oregon wilderness were once bathrooms and are steeped in legends of murder.

Instead of fruit, the branches of this tree are brimming with hopes and dreams.

Statues of Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Ribsy the dog in the park where their adventures "really happened."

10,000 flowered plants bloom in the City of Roses.

A favorite haunt of dinosaur loving children and hallucinogen loving hippies alike.

A garden oasis filled with flowers mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare.

San Francisco's urban bison herd has persisted in the face of extinction, development, and disease.

A hidden gem, named after a San Franciscan icon, offers spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean.

A miniature view of the park, caught in time.

The key to turning shifting dunes into the green oasis of Golden Gate Park.

Depicting scenes of everyday life - and specific individuals - in Great Depression era San Francisco.

Once the largest windmill outside of Holland, with enormous 114 foot sails.

The sole surviving relic of the San Francisco neighborhood cobbled together from old horsecars and streetcars.

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

This futuristic public park includes large sculptures and an artificial geyser.

A steaming, boiling hellscape sources Hokkaido's thermal baths.

A sobering scientific reminder of the human damage caused by the advent of the nuclear age.

The mysterious round rocks of Schooner Gulch.

A pair of slides and a tree-lined stair corridor have been an urban oasis for nearly 40 years.

This stretch of beach along California's central coast is a busy highway for the largest seal in the northern hemisphere.

The eccentric and colorful pavilions of Tower Grove park are a beloved and overlooked symbol. 

This titanic oil company sign is a reminder of the Americana boom of the 1970s and also its commoditization.

This is not your typical jungle gym.