This simple frog painting created by musician Daniel Johnston embodies the spirit of Austin.

Turning night into day in Victorian-era Austin to thwart a serial killer.

This failed condo development was reborn as a street art hub.

A store full of vintage and indie toys designed to bring out the kid in even the crustiest of adults.

Home to the largest urban bat colony in North America, estimated at 1.5 million bats.

Roadside Americana, fairy tale characters, and Austin quirkiness come together at this magical course in the heart of Texas' capital city.

A free, canine-friendly alternative watering hole near the more famous Barton Springs.

Home to an endangered salamander, a full moon celebration, and a large spring-fed outdoor swimming pool.

One part antique store, one part curiosities hodge-podge.

An emerald-green grotto just a short trip from Austin.

Ruins of a once-opulent grand Victorian resort.

A building that was once a general store, a speakeasy, and a newspaper office now holds a small gallery filled with New Orleans photography.

Sniff the Titan Arum's rotting flesh.

An uber-secure, windowless tower of doom in the center of Manhattan is an NSA spyscraper.

Once America's longest-manned military fort, now an abandoned hulk.

Tucked in a nondescript downtown Brooklyn mall is a bar containing a remarkable turn of the century anatomical wax collection last seen in 1920s Berlin.

This iconic tattoo shop has its own onsite museum with artifacts from the early history of modern body art.

First a horse rendering plant, then a 19th century landfill, this beach is full of glass from thousands upon thousands of broken bottles.

This lower Manhattan bar is set up in an old bank vault that rests beneath a skyscraper that hides even more historic splendor.

A terrific purveyor of natural history objects and curios.

The façade of this building looks like a bingo board, but it's really a giant clock by a famed graphic designer.