Places MerkelWerks Wants to Go

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

One poet's handmade, anachronistic home.

This corn maze so big you may want to pack a lunch, and possibly a flaregun.

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

The stately birthplace of California's statehood.

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

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.

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

The oldest lighthouse on America's west coast no longer needs keepers, yet they maintain the site anyhow.

A huge collection of rocks, gems, and crystals.

Home to the "Circus" trees created by Axel Erlandson.

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

A strange house built only at night, with rumored mystic inspiration.

A "gravitational anomaly" located in the redwood forests just outside of Santa Cruz, California.

A giant chess set, minus the psychedelic drug trip.

This odd California folly seems like it was almost designed to accumulate urban legends.

A sudden forest of traditional Papua New Guinean art works is hidden in a corner of Stanford University.

A hidden world of exotic succulents and cacti.

This quaint archive of the silent era preserves and pays homage to a seminal moment in film history.

The former Naval shipyard is open for exploring - mostly.

Junkbots and mud babies are the masterpieces in this fantastically sci-fi art museum.

A burnt orange monolithic dome structure perched on a hillside near Interstate 280.

A B&B on a Victorian lighthouse station in San Francisco Bay.

Travelers exchange letters with woodland creatures at this mini post office.