A giant donut stands as a popular symbol of Los Angeles iconography.

An optical illusion found amid a logged redwood forest.

A desert ghost town—occupied for only 12 years—was once home to more than 500 silver mines.

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

Named after a bandit and the star of several Hollywood prehistoric landscapes, these sandstone formations are a historical part of the Los Angeles natural landscape.

Commonly referred to as the most photographed Victorian home in the United States.

The L.A. Zoo has a secret garden of rare bootleg cycads, a palm specimen dating back 280 million years.

The unbelievably opulent home built for an infamous newspaperman.

Her final resting place was intended to be modest and private, but the power of her popularity continues to draw visitors.

This massive redwood tree has a hole in the base big enough to drive through.

Costumed elves and mountain bikers co-exist peacefully at this abandoned Christmas-themed adventure park.

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

Stripes of flowers bloom each spring in a 50 acre rainbow of color.

Scores of vintage street lamps shine along L.A.’s Miracle Mile.

Historic funicular railway, believed to be the shortest railroad in the world.

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

Aqueducts have dramatically changed this old lake, now home to tufa towers and its very own species of tiny brine shrimp.

Staircase winds down the side of Telegraph Hill through gardens, wild parrots flying overhead.

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

A pair of slides and a tree-lined stair corridor have been an urban oasis for nearly 40 years.

Olfactory delights in San Francisco's Botanical Gardens.

Crypt mausoleum in cathedral's basement contains relics of third century Roman martyr, Saint Vibiana.

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

Walk inside a half mile long crevice right outside the town of Garmisch Partenkirchen.