Swarms of butterflies cannot compare to the awe inspired by the publicly-funded nakedness once displayed in this sunken garden.

One of the largest trees of its kind in California.

An inconspicuous suburban street corner is the site of San Diego's worst air disaster.

The smallest Mexican land grant in California was given, and then taken from, a 19th-century teacher and nurse.

A partial tunnel blasted into a steep ridge is all that remains of a failed railway across Arizona.

Finale of "William Tell Overture" can be heard as drivers pass over grooves in the road.

The rocks in this arid basin leave trails of movement behind them.

Hiding amid the largest camellia collection in the country lies a charming children's maze, donated by a secret admirer.

Los Angeles's oldest cemetery allows visitors to trace the history of this proud city.

NASA's leading space science lab started by a co-founder with deep ties to the occult.

Bug-devouring flora are the stars of a special wing of the glass conservatory.

Museum dedicated to the preservation of surf culture.

A nursery specializing in strange and beautiful succulents and cacti.

Megachurch turned Catholic church comprised of 10,000 glass panes.

The "3rd largest" city in California is an empty mirage of suburbia in the middle of nowhere.

Built by one man in the '20s, this site is now a museum representing the Great Basin cultures.

The ghostly remains of an accidental sea.

Abandoned bridge hidden deep in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Oldest building in California still in use.

One of the most unusual geological features, recognizable from a dozen hit movies.

Giant, natural amphitheaters made of delicate geological formations called "hoodoos."

The American rainmaker and a burst dam.

The last Americana on Route 66.

Ten 25-foot-tall, beehive-shaped kilns, abandoned in Death Valley.