Eastern zen meets Western grit in these four little trees growing out of a rock on Lake Tahoe’s Nevada shore.

Crafted in 1911, this steam locomotive spent its entire working life in Flagstaff.

This sundial indicates the time based on where you stand within it.

A unique geological area spiked with wind-carved rocks that resemble teepees.

Home to New Mexico's longest bar, this watering hole also has a mining museum and a haunted history.

On the side of a remote mountain, a stone face bearing an inscription of mysterious origin.

The U.S. Air Force has an anti-satellite laser weapon.

If drivers cross the rumble strip on this stretch of Route 66 at just the right speed it plays "America the Beautiful."

An abandoned amusement park based on the popular 1940s Red Ryder comic strip.

The most powerful laboratory radiation source in the world pulses with 1,000 times the electricity of a lightning bolt.

When life gave this firefighter a forest fire, he made a rough-hewn sculpture park using a chainsaw.

Apparently, the whole cosmos emanates from this plain concrete tower.

Owned by Native American women, this brewery is a celebration of indigenous culture in the American Southwest.

Steep canyon walls hide a forested oasis in the West Texas desert.

A spring-fed pool so deep it's used for scuba diving as well as swimming.

An unusual bed & breakfast made of papercrete.

An abandoned quicksilver mining town surrounded by the Big Bend parks.

The home of a 19th-century author who brought African-American folktales to the mainstream is now Atlanta’s oldest house museum.

It took more than 20 years and a sharp eye for one man to assemble this quirky collection.

A lost cemetery stands forgotten on a hilltop, known only to the older residents of Pomeroy.

An abandoned asylum incorporated into a college campus.

A rare particle accelerator with a tremendous energy range is tucked away at Ohio University.

A 30-year-old Sycamore tree grown from a seed taken to the moon and back.

Housed in the university planetarium, the thousand-strong collection of tiny towelettes includes a used one from the hosts of Car Talk.