Washington, D.C.
Capitol Bollards
The 5.5-mile ring of steel posts around the Capitol Building is one of the largest (and most uniform) of its kind in the world.
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Places I've been
Places this traveler has marked as been there.
Washington, D.C.
Capitol Building Tunnel System
Members of Congress have traveled between the buildings on Capitol Hill for a century hidden from tourists, press, and storm clouds.
Washington, D.C.
Roman Legionnaire Modesty Shields
Railroad officials in the early 1900s sought to spare travelers the sight of Roman soldiers’ private parts.
Washington, D.C.
Site of the Union Station Train Crash
A 1,100-ton train fell through the floor in 1953. Workers got it patched up in just 72 hours.
Permanently Closed
Washington, D.C.
Government Printing Office
Need a hardcopy of the 50-title Code of Federal Regulations? This is the place.
Washington, D.C.
Washington Coliseum
A historic arena where the Beatles played their first concert in the U.S.
Washington, D.C.
Atlas Performing Arts Center
The revival of a classic Art Deco theater.
Washington, D.C.
Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens
A lovely aquatic park built by a one-armed Civil War veteran who made a fortune from lotuses.
Washington, D.C.
Ruins of the McMillan Sand Filtration Site at Reservoir Park
An Industrial Revolution-era public work that purified water using nothing but sand.
San Francisco, California
1908 Cistern Circles
These subterranean storage areas hold emergency water reserves.
San Francisco, California
Exploratorium
San Francisco's newly reopened hands-on science museum.
Permanently Closed
San Francisco, California
Vaillancourt Fountain
This concrete tangle of square pipes has stood as a proud thorn in the city's side since the '70s.
San Francisco, California
Palace of Fine Arts
The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.
San Francisco, California
Fort Point
Beneath the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge is the “Gibraltar of the West Coast,” a fort built to protect the San Francisco Bay from naval attack.
Sausalito, California
The Bay Model
A working model of the entire San Francisco Bay and much of the Sacramento River Delta, complete with regular tides that change every 14 minutes.
San Rafael, California
Marin County Civic Center
Frank Lloyd Wright died a year before construction on his largest public project even began.
Benicia, California
Suisun Bay Ghost Fleet
The rusting remains of the largest assembled WWII fleet on the West Coast.
Murphys, California
Mercer Caverns
A popular tourist cave with a dark past.
Fort Bragg, California
Glass Beach
A trash dump made beautiful by nature's power.
Jenner, California
Fort Ross
The southernmost outpost of the Russian Empire in colonial America.
Glen Ellen, California
The Wolf House - Jack London State Park
The haunting ruins of Jack London's dream house.
Sonoma, California
Location of the Microsoft Windows XP Default Wallpaper
The unedited photograph called "Bliss" has graced the screens of over a billion computers.
Napa, California
The Cayetano Juárez Adobe
Napa's oldest building is now a Mexican restaurant.
Hegra, Saudi Arabia
Jabal Ithlib
Carved into a towering rock mountain in Al Ula, this once served as a religious and political center in Hegra.
