Places StepYoshi Wants to Go

The unedited photograph called "Bliss" has graced the screens of over a billion computers.

The world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory continues to report on the stars.

Suburban observatory was personal lab of the father of modern astrophysics.

A famous alternative culture epicenter and where Joplin serenaded young hippies.

NASA's leading space science lab started by a co-founder with deep ties to the occult.

What began with a single, 357-pound chunk of the Canyon Diablo meteorite grew to be an impressive collection. 

Nuclear waste dump site now an environmental sanctuary.

California's own majestic geyser is powered by a subterranean volcano.

Two rocks in a perpetual kiss and one of "the most romantic spot in America."

A sign at the end of the Santa Monica Pier marks the traditional end of the legendary American highway.

A large instrument played by the wind.

The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.

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

California's own medieval Italian castle, authentic down to the 300-year-old iron maiden in the dungeon.

Exotic feline breeding compound and conservation center.

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

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.

There is no trying to fall in love with this Star Wars fountain, you just do or do not.

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

A psychedelic labyrinth on the San Francisco bay.

The rocks in this arid basin leave trails of movement behind them.

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

During prohibition, corrupt city officials ran drinking dens under the streets of Downtown Los Angeles.