Places Entropical Paradise Wants to Go

Olfactory delights in San Francisco's Botanical Gardens.

San Francisco's newly reopened hands-on science museum.

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

This shop specializes in oddities and Victorian-inspired wonders.

A 140-year-old castle with underground caves hidden in San Francisco.

Venue for strange sideshow displays and musical acts.

Despite being one of the most photographed vistas in the Rockies these twin peaks are rightfully known as the "Deadly Bells."

Once a mortuary that held the remains of Buffalo Bill, this Denver hotspot is now a death-fixated restaurant.

This "zoo" is a cross between a junkyard and a sculpture garden, featuring animals you won't see anywhere else.

Mining town from the late 1890s, once home to Calamity Jane.

Odd outsider art installations surround a Gold Rush-era ghost town.

One of Canada's oldest museums, the beautiful Redpath has been serving up Natural History and Ethnography since 1882.

The old Niles Canyon Aqueduct in the San Francisco Bay Area is a bemusing and secret trail through nature for wayward travelers.

San Francisco Bay's ghost town.

Life in this isolated, hilltop lighthouse was lonely, but it sure was lovely.

Offering commanding views of the California coastline, this restaurant was a hub for the artists and bohemians of Big Sur.

The hike through a narrow river flanked by the 2,000-foot-tall walls of Zion Canyon is one of the best in the world.

The remains of this early 20th century refinery loom on a mountainside like a graffiti-covered fortress.

A small flooded ghost town with a few scattered structures remaining.

Here, at the “world’s longest art gallery,” you’ll find forty miles of ancient petroglyphs and pictographs.

A ghost town that held steady longer than most, but finally gave up the ghost.

Bizarre lunar-like landscape with thousands of large stone "hoodoos."

Once a menacing challenge for trailblazers, this trail is now the most scenic drive in Utah.

Despite its name, this route in southern Utah offers a heavenly day trip.