Places Ryan Haupt Wants to Go

This sun-scorched lakebed contains samples of half the natural elements known to humankind.

A charming desert roadside bakery that produces 10 times more bread daily than it has residents in its town.

The oldest continuously operating church in California.

A watering hole where the options for seating include a bar, patio, or subterranean cave.

Faceless white figures loom over the city from the rooftop.

One of the best absinthe distilleries in the United States.

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

This desert oddity hides in plain sight thanks to a cartographic error and a desert explorer with a punny sense of humor.

Four hundred granite steps were built into this massive rock by the National Park Service.

The longest burning light bulb in the world.

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

One of the largest free-standing structures ever built, this dirigible hangar is now simply a giant skeleton.

Forgotten and then destroyed by fire, this was once one of the largest saltwater swimming pools in the world.

International delicatessen has been owned and operated by the same family for more than 110 years.

The only visible piece of San Francisco's most famous shipwreck.

A mysterious painting of the self-declared Emperor of the United States watches over a local hof-brau.

Antiques by the Bay.

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

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

A pair of mutilated bronze octopuses slump at the base of the monument honoring California's admission to the U.S.

Law-protected wreckage serves as a peculiar memorial for an almost forgotten World War II tragedy.

A creepy steel gremlin has protected the Bay Bridge since 1989.

A brooding mansion of clinker brick stands out among the Victorian houses of Pacific Heights.

The only museum of sake in the United States is nestled in an unlikely California college town.