Places Maggie Mason Wants to Go

Nursery with extensive collection of flesh-eating plants operated by the author of "The Savage Garden."

From the sky, a kaleidoscope of color brightens the grey landscape of the San Francisco Bay.

Playable, historic pinball machines fill this Alameda museum.

A deserted hodgepodge of experimental structures designed by nearby university students.

Travelers leave tea kettles in a remote part of Death Valley as part of a mysterious, decades-old tradition.

Dive bar built out of the remains of a whaling ship.

California's own majestic geyser is powered by a subterranean volcano.

Spiral labyrinth hidden in the hills above Oakland, CA.

The miraculous hydrant that saved the Mission District in 1906.

Two rocks in a perpetual kiss and one of "the most romantic spot in America."

A Mysterious Masonic tomb in San Luis Obispo.

"The Hoppiest Place in the World" holds the world’s largest collection of bunny memorabilia and is a singular testament of a couple's devotion to all things Leporidae.

A playground built by the kids that is a child's wonderland, and a helicopter parent's nightmare.

The mysterious round rocks of Schooner Gulch.

From Japan to Italy, this California park explores the world's cultures through their gardens.

Bonsai garden in Oakland is curated by the first non-Japanese female bonsai master in the United States.

This partially buried wreck is one of the most complete of its kind but is only revealed when the sea allows.

The restored and active Victorian-era final resting place of San Francisco.

An extensive collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts and mummies.

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

Julia Morgan's Moorish-Gothic labyrinth of fountains, trees, natural light and Oakland's notable dead.

San Franciscans leave gifts and messages for the magical beings that live behind the tiny, mysterious door installed on a tree in Golden Gate Park.

San Francisco Bay's ghost town.

The biggest pinball arcade in the world has over 600 pinball machines, and 300 arcade machines.