Eastern zen meets Western grit in these four little trees growing out of a rock on Lake Tahoe’s Nevada shore.

Bits and pieces from the ill-fated Donner Party's winter cabins.

Back in the day everyone who was anyone played this historic western theater.

Beneath a Virginia City bar is the entrance to an abandoned gold mine.

Bill Murray bowled three straight strikes here at Reno's "Taj Mahal of Tenpins."

A hotel and restaurant serving as the mecca of kitsch.

An alley covered with 20 years of bubble gum.

A chain of bells connect the California Missions and honor the legend of the "King’s Highway."

The oldest lighthouse on America's west coast no longer needs keepers, yet they maintain the site anyhow.

Every year, over 25,000 monarchs overwinter in Pacific Grove.

More than 700 species live within this murky marvel of a swamp on California's coast.

Offering commanding views of the California coastline, this restaurant was a hub for the artists and bohemians of Big Sur.

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

Hopeless romantics will swoon over the sweet story behind this bright and colorful home.

The neighborhood church casts a breast-shaped shadow that locals have come to call the “two o’clock titty.”

Only hotel where you can legally launder money.

An enormous artwork that colorfully celebrates over 150 years of US military achievements.

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

A collection of 20th-century automata, penny arcade games, and musical contraptions.

San Francisco's newly reopened hands-on science museum.

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.

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

This graffiti-covered bridge is the quintessential vision of a place for disillusioned youth to escape the complexities of burgeoning adulthood.

The air force base preserves its scars from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.