This stretch of beach along California's central coast is a busy highway for the largest seal in the northern hemisphere.

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

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

A herd of 150 bison live on California's Santa Catalina Island and are at the heart of an ongoing debate between environmental protection and economic expansion.

This mountaintop beacon is only lit three times a year but shines like some kind of all-seeing eye.

A Biblically-based Natural History Museum.

An ominous concrete cube cuts a dystopian silhouette atop this California mountain.

A rough granite monument marks the spot where Europeans first caught sight of the San Francisco Bay.

A New England-style lighthouse along California's beautiful Highway 1 gets a re-do.

The illuminating collection of L.A. street lights is run by the city and only opens one day per month.

Honoring the famed folktale author, this California museum looks like it belongs in the Black Forest.

The grand, column-fronted, sculpture-adorned home of the ambitious digital library.

From the Difference Engine to the Cray-1, all under one roof.

One of the largest free-standing structures ever built, this dirigible hangar is now simply a giant skeleton.

Once close to extinction, there is no shortage of elephant seals on the beaches of Año Nuevo State Park.

Semi-recognized center of the world, with many oddities.

A dwindling menagerie of anthropomorphic oil derrick animals still dot the barren California landscape.

Hidden above a drug store on a nondescript corner of Lincoln Heights is a private clubhouse for intrepid explorers.

The world's largest wooden trestle stretches across this desert canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

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

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

A volcanic tunnel illuminated by natural skylights offers a shaded respite from the desert sun.

360-degree virtual reality chamber physically immerses scientists into their data.

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