The abandoned train depot now doubles as a well-placed rest stop for those who take the road less traveled.

The interior of the Overlook Hotel in "The Shining" was based on this Yosemite original.

A sign at the end of the Santa Monica Pier marks the traditional end of the legendary American highway.

A former utopian healing center created by a huckster and built by derelicts.

Hundreds of trees made from glass bottles make up this forest on Route 66.

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

A desert ghost town—occupied for only 12 years—was once home to more than 500 silver mines.

One of the ghostly stops along Route 66.

The unbelievably opulent home built for an infamous newspaperman.

The so-called "Statue of Liberty of Los Angeles" is on a one mutant mission to keep L.A. weird.

San Francisco's urban bison herd has persisted in the face of extinction, development, and disease.

This Big Sur waterfall drops 80 feet directly into the Pacific Ocean, and inspired the hillside house up top.

One of the most scenic stretches of road in America winds between some of the country's oldest trees.

These delicate buggers are some of the rarest fossils that have bubbled up from the Tar Pits.

Hollywood's most famous landmark, the "temporary" sign that has stood for decades longer than intended.

Resting place of Hollywood's immortals is also site of summer film screenings.

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

The first of the iconic American roadside attractions lives on as a college mascot.

Millions of years of erosion created the feature for which this rock formation is aptly named.

This rusted car found in Petrified Forest National Park's Route 66 exhibit may be the most photographed abandoned car in the country.

A replica of the flagpole that gave a frontier town its name.

A stone pillar commemorates the surrender of the extraordinary Apache leader.

This Native American settlement dates back to the Pueblo II period.

This once-booming Gold Rush town is now home to a herd of feral donkeys.