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

Its dark depths conceal millions of rare, delicate crystal formations.

Like a kitschy mirage in the Mojave, this eatery serves up classic 50s-style diner meals and a dinosaur sculpture garden.

This infamous prison has a store where you can buy goods crafted by incarcerated people.

While exploring the desert, you can stop by the home of a fictional heretic from a parallel universe.

An abandoned Jazz Age dream home and con man's hideout in Death Valley.

The most beautiful Taco Bell in the world even has surfboard parking.

Millions of years of oxidation make a drive down this winding Death Valley road surprisingly colorful.

Get up close to emus and ostriches, or buy their tasty meat.

The graffiti-covered remnants of a former triangulation station are balanced precariously on this California peak.

Happy harbor seals frolic and snooze on this warm, sandy stretch of coast.

The largest dune field in the Mojave offers a chance of hearing the 'singing sands.'

Smooth basaltic rocks tell a tale of ancient glacial waterfalls.

Coastal dunes, site of buried Egyptian movie set and former utopian colony.

Gorgeous purple flowers drape from the world's largest blossoming plant.

Ancient human, animal, and geometric figures drawn in the earth.

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

No one's quite sure why there's a metal megaphone bolted on two rocks in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

At this California chicken ranch, four bucks will get you 18 eggs and a chorus of dancing animatronic poultry.

This old mining town, deep in the California desert, has a year-round population of one.

Along a California highway is a kind of Jurassic Park made of metal.

Russian history in San Francisco.

The awe-inspiring ship from the golden era of cruising has an incomparable history and a reputation as one of the world’s most haunted places.

The location of the last stand of Charles Manson's doomsday cult.