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

A giant donut stands as a popular symbol of Los Angeles iconography.

A hotel and restaurant serving as the mecca of kitsch.

High on a hill overlooking Los Angeles lives a world famous, high-power conical Tesla Coil.

Under the right circumstances, this waterfall in Yosemite briefly turns a luminescent fiery orange.

It should come as no surprise that the world's largest artichoke lies in the town that calls itself the "Artichoke Center of the World."

A peculiar mansion built by the troubled heir to the Winchester Rifle Company fortune.

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

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

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

A modest reminder of treacherous waters at the Golden Gate.

The key to turning shifting dunes into the green oasis of Golden Gate Park.

Once the largest windmill outside of Holland, with enormous 114 foot sails.

This 19th century train workshop is a treasure trove of railroad history.

A lighthouse built to save lives that took quite a few with its treacherous location.

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

The king of U.S. high points towers over every other peak on the continent.

Four-story concrete hotel never opened to customers.

Buy your friend a drink or staple some cash to the wall for the next guy at the Salty Dawg Saloon.

Open day and night, a church with three pews and Bibles.

The remains of the first saint from Alaska in the Russian Orthodox Church.

A rim-made reptile in North Dakota.

A monument to the center of the North American continent may be off by a few miles.

A true roadside icon standing on the same plains that the herds once roamed.