Practice your Dirty Dancing lifts in the manmade lake where Johnny Castle himself did.

The highest point in North Carolina and the United States east of the Mississippi River, Mount Mitchell is named after argumentative explorer Elisha Mitchell.

A 315-foot spire jutting out from the Blue Ridge Mountains makes for breathtaking views.

The world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory continues to report on the stars.

One of the largest Marian shrines on the West Coast stands rather unexpectedly in Silicon Valley.

A peculiar mansion built by the troubled heir to the Winchester Rifle Company fortune.

A giant chess set, minus the psychedelic drug trip.

Historical trolley restoration and operation at History San Jose, Kelly Park.

The headquarters of a secretive order is also a beautifully-designed park.

An extensive collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts and mummies.

It took years to decode its mysterious messages.

The oldest house in the capital of Silicon Valley.

It is locally loved and ridiculed for literally looking like poop.

One of the few surviving original NASCAR dirt-track speedways.

Daily jousts and dancing barrel makers in Munich's mechanical clock.

A fearsome dragon clings to a corner of Munich's city hall.

One of the most easily accessible examples of the rare 1960s UFO houses.

King Ludwig I's collection of beautiful women.

Despite attempts by local police to discourage it, Beatles-inspired graffiti has been a means for artists to air grievances for decades.

A grumpy old water goblin guarding an old mill on the Devil’s Stream in Prague.

A bust of Franz Kafka spins in pieces, reflecting the writer's inner torment.

This spooky statue sits outside a famous Prague theater.

Visiting this café is like visiting the Austrian grandma you wish you had.

Baroque celebration of the end of the Great Plague of Vienna.