The preamble to the U.S. Constitution written entirely from vanity license plates hangs in the Smithsonian museum.

A fantastic array of trays and cables once whisked books over to the Capitol at 600 feet per minute.

This poor little statue is the most vandalized memorial in Washington.

Members of Congress have traveled between the buildings on Capitol Hill for a century hidden from tourists, press, and storm clouds.

The institution is sitting on a goldmine of 21,000 paints, varnishes, pigments, and primers preserved for posterity.

The "lovely red Vega" of the legendary record-settling pilot.

The house where John Wilkes Booth conspired with his co-conspirators.

This leafy estate is worth $18 million and is so grand it has two mailing addresses.

The national park was once a plantation estate.

This stunning blue and gold room changed cities twice before becoming part of the Smithsonian.

Two thousand artifacts from around the world collected by one woman who loved to travel.

A museum cafe showcases Native American dishes and indigenous ingredients from across the Western Hemisphere.

One of the oldest used bookstores in the U.S. has been selling antiquarian treasures since 1825.

A nostalgic bibliographic gem.

What remains of the simple red brick chapel where the women's rights movement began.

19th-century operating theatre in which the use of ether was first demonstrated - plus, a skeleton and a mummy!

An enormous, inside-out glass globe built in 1935.

Elephant seals and sea lions have turned the abandoned buildings on this island into their endangered love shack.

Once close to extinction, there is no shortage of elephant seals on the beaches of Año Nuevo State Park.

A "gravitational anomaly" located in the redwood forests just outside of Santa Cruz, California.

Housed in a memorial lighthouse, this museum relays the history of surfing, beginning with the antics of royal Hawaiian teenagers.

This iconic L.A. bookshop is housed in an abandoned bank—both symbolic and chic.

Somewhere between an art studio and a print shop, this artists storefront is a house of worship devoted to type.

The tragedy of the Japanese internment camps is remembered here by a stark "Soul Consoling Tower."