The randomness of this wall of lava lamps helps encrypt up to 10 percent of the internet.

This shop and studio is dedicated to the art of the book, from letterpress to bookbinding.

The most beautiful Taco Bell in the world even has surfboard parking.

A New England-style lighthouse along California's beautiful Highway 1 gets a re-do.

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

This municipal playground was co-created by the father of one of the most playful characters ever.

The oldest continuously operating church in California.

A tree grown from astronaut seeds which were exposed to cosmic rays.

This remarkably simple jail went over a century without an escape.

The stately birthplace of California's statehood.

The oldest U.S. Government building in California, and it's State Historic Landmark #1.

The first safe in this California town had to hold all the gold.

An old whaling station now serves to give the public a look at the commercial whaling industry, no longer a part of Monterey's economy.

This eagle-topped spire remembers the military commander who snatched up California for the United States.

Enormous crabs, bioluminescent jellies, and other amazing creatures from the ocean’s depths—some of which are in an aquarium for the first time ever.

Steinbeck's old stomping grounds, immortalized in Cannery Row.

One of the most elaborate displays of Jellyfish is on display at the aquarium.

Like a kitschy mirage in the Mojave, this eatery serves up classic 50s-style diner meals and a dinosaur sculpture garden.

A collection of anti-communist sculptures stands watch in the Mojave Desert.

One of the ghostly stops along Route 66.

A pair of large white marble lions guard this stretch of the Mojave Desert, and it is utterly mysterious how they got there.

The ghost town that ended up on Ebay.

The remains of a boarding school designed to forcibly assimilate Native American children.

Don't blink or you'll miss it.