Places patricklongmire Wants to Go

A world-class observatory in the California desert.

An extensive collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts and mummies.

Named after a bandit and the star of several Hollywood prehistoric landscapes, these sandstone formations are a historical part of the Los Angeles natural landscape.

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

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

One of the most unusual geological features, recognizable from a dozen hit movies.

A 300-ship graveyard, with a few still visible at low tide.

The lowest point in North America is home to an undrinkable pool surrounded by fields of geometric salt flats.

These delicate buggers are some of the rarest fossils that have bubbled up from the Tar Pits.

The final resting place of a space program monolith, soon to be unveiled again to the public.

These millipedes glow not out of attraction, but as a not-too-subtle warning.

Visible below the waves are memorials to the city's Gold Rush dead.

The largest drain hole in the world.

Stripes of flowers bloom each spring in a 50 acre rainbow of color.

Once thought to be the oldest living tree in the world, Methuselah was germinated before the Egyptian pyramids were built.

Quite simply the largest tree in the world (by volume).

Eons old volcanic activity created one of the most stunning rock formations in the United States.

Canyon walls shrouded in ferns.

Staircase winds down the side of Telegraph Hill through gardens, wild parrots flying overhead.

Finale of "William Tell Overture" can be heard as drivers pass over grooves in the road.

Carved by a waterfall in a hard-to-reach rock formation, this heart-shaped rock has inspired romantics for decades.

Aqueducts have dramatically changed this old lake, now home to tufa towers and its very own species of tiny brine shrimp.

Each year these high desert hills are absolutely covered with poppy flowers in a surreal show of nature.

Hollywood's most famous landmark, the "temporary" sign that has stood for decades longer than intended.