For almost 100 years, this site of peace and spirituality has existed on the California coast.

An extensive collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts and mummies.

An elaborate gift from Claus Spreckels is now a piece of San Francisco history.

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

The stones that traveled from Spain to eventually become a holy place for San Francisco's nature worshippers.

This little valley along Highway 1 is engulfed by thousands of lilies during the spring season.

An artsy hidden staircase leads to breathtaking views of San Francisco.

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

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

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

San Francisco's urban bison herd has persisted in the face of extinction, development, and disease.

The key to turning shifting dunes into the green oasis of Golden Gate Park.

Once the largest windmill outside of Holland, with enormous 114 foot sails.

This remarkably simple jail went over a century without an escape.

It should come as no surprise that the world's largest artichoke lies in the town that calls itself the "Artichoke Center of the World."

Hiding amid the largest camellia collection in the country lies a charming children's maze, donated by a secret admirer.

Once a place of peaceful repose, this sanitarium now faces an uncertain future.

A music-filled, booze-soaked oasis in the desert.

A cobblestone alley with an interesting past.

Contemporary art inspired by natural history and science drawing on ancient techniques in a modern world.

A bigger-than-life pun that has become a beacon of altruism.

An unfortunate geological resemblance to Satan has labeled this Pasadena gorge as a passage to the underworld.

The American Home, Re-imagined.