The mayor made the declaration in 2004.

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

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

This partially buried wreck is one of the most complete of its kind but is only revealed when the sea allows.

Beneath the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge is the “Gibraltar of the West Coast,” a fort built to protect the San Francisco Bay from naval attack.

Art Deco stylings conceal the true nature of this bridge.

The California capital city once stood 10 feet lower than it does today.

A replica of the first public theater built in California.

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

This 19th century train workshop is a treasure trove of railroad history.

This former New Jersey bus now exists as a public art exhibit.

At the base of Steens Mountain resides an otherworldly desert.

A volcanic landmark located on an Ice age lake bed.

Oregon's unexpected high desert, displaying layers of time in a colorful show.

A stunning landscape of bunkers that once stored chemical weapons.

Post office plaque commemorates local resistance to a cult invasion.

An out-of-the-way state park in Oregon that features both a picturesque waterfall and the ruins of a hydropower plant.

A fine, large-aperture telescope available for public use.

A French chateau, failed utopian community, odd museum, and Stonehenge replica in rural Washington State.

You might know it as the Overlook Hotel, but the inside is not going to be familiar.

Despite a legend that says this highest peak in Oregon was climbed in high heels, scores of people have died on its slopes.

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

A roaring, awe-inspiring double cascade of icy water flows through woodland Oregon like something out of a Tolkien novel.