Places maren Wants to Go

Order scoops of pandan, lychee, and black sesame at this family-run institution.

A terrific purveyor of natural history objects and curios.

A herd of 150 bison live on California's Santa Catalina Island and are at the heart of an ongoing debate between environmental protection and economic expansion.

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

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

This museum boasts the ninth-largest collection of insects in North America.

A couple turned their front yard into an artistic masterpiece.

An extensive collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts and mummies.

An "anarchical" no man's land, complete with garbage sculptures and a hobo-run "Landfillian Library."

A winding path built in secret on the edge of the continent.

A trash dump made beautiful by nature's power.

The abandoned zoo enclosures offer a perfect place to experience the other side of the bars.

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

Medicinal spa created from the mineral-rich runoff of a geothermal power plant

If Hello Kitty were Mickey Mouse, this would be Disneyland.

A 300-year-old tea shop that brought tea to the English people, not to mention the Queen herself.

This quaint Italian town keeps losing ground as the sides of its plateau slowly erode.

The old Niles Canyon Aqueduct in the San Francisco Bay Area is a bemusing and secret trail through nature for wayward travelers.

Neither Spanish settlers nor anyone since has been able to tell who built these strange California rock walls.