The 10,000 Torii shrine.

Not quite the menace it once was, this monster still has some chops.

A beautiful bamboo trail tucked in this famous Japanese shrine.

The sound of swaying stalks in this stunning grove has been named a governmentally recognized sound.

Devoted Buddhists can earn enlightenment in the next life by crawling through this symbolic nostril.

This massive wooden building contains a giant Buddha, healing pillars, and tame deer wandering the grounds.

Largest graveyard in all of Japan surrounds a famous mausoleum.

A chilling monument to Korean patriots who resisted the Japanese occupation.

A Norwegian-born sculptor created these soaring guardian angels at the entrance to Hoover Dam.

A working model of the entire San Francisco Bay and much of the Sacramento River Delta, complete with regular tides that change every 14 minutes.

Once the fastest ship from San Francisco to Tahiti, the Galilee now lays in pieces in three different cities.

The only visible piece of San Francisco's most famous shipwreck.

Not merely a museum – but a whirring powerhouse that offers a subterranean peek into the heart and soul of cable car operations.

The hill that gave the Massachusett tribe, and later the state, its name.

One of the now-less-hidden floral gems of the "Emerald Necklace."

If a glacial river suddenly diving into a sheer chasm via a dramatic, multi-stage waterfall isn't peak Iceland, it's certainly close.

These steeply terraced ruins are a stop along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

These towering spires and glowing walls are carefully crafted from hundreds of thousands of icicles.

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

This beautiful, historic church looks like something out of a simpler past.

This valley of hot springs and boiling mud pots is home to the record-holding "Geysir," which originated the English word.

A modest reminder of treacherous waters at the Golden Gate.

A winding path built in secret on the edge of the continent.

A 300-ship graveyard, with a few still visible at low tide.