Once the gateway to the utopian dream-village of a Civil War embalmer.

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.

Rusting, graffiti-covered tanks litter the beach of this island, once used by the U.S. military for target practice.

Hear the quietest sound from across the dome.

Elevated freight railway turned wildly successful urban park.

The deepest lake in the United States, and once the site of epic destruction that lives on in legends.

The granddaddy of all tourist traps, built on ice water, jackalopes, and a giant dinosaur.

An abandoned, unfinished mansion on grounds strewn with lava rocks.

A shop full of natural curiosities, carnivorous plants, and costumed taxidermied mice.

An essential stop before plundering, BYO Cutlass.

Staircase winds down the side of Telegraph Hill through gardens, wild parrots flying overhead.

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

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

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

A still functioning vaudeville carousel that has operated for over a century boasts a colorful menagerie and past.

Guns that have been defending San Francisco since 1904.

A sculpture made of 10 Cadillacs as a monument to the “Golden Age” of the American automobile.

A fitting attraction for the corn capital of the world.

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

A massive, heart-shaped, wind-carved crater in the middle of the Israeli desert.