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

San Francisco's newly reopened hands-on science museum.

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

Visible below the waves are memorials to the city's Gold Rush dead.

A collection of 20th-century automata, penny arcade games, and musical contraptions.

This little museum has an exhibit devoted to the elusive forest denizens.

Two mammoth statues inspired by equally tall tales lure tourists to this roadside attraction.

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

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

Only known mainland rookery of the threatened Stellar sea lion.

A collection of colorful dinosaurs hidden in an actual rainforest.

This ultra-modern California span is actually a titanic solar clock in disguise built by famed architect Santiago Calatrava.

340 bicycles, 65 feet high.

An institution that preserves the history of institutionalization.

A monument to the love people have for their pets.

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

This Oakland fairytale kingdom, fiercely devoted to childlike whimsy, was an early inspiration for Disneyland.

A working model of the entire San Francisco Bay and much of the Sacramento River Delta, complete with regular tides that change every 14 minutes.

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

An amazing collection of fantastic reptiles, amphibians, spiders, and insects.

Seven ceramic sculptures are scattered around this California college campus.

This museum boasts the ninth-largest collection of insects in North America.

Come for the records, stay for the retro pinball machines.

The perfect spot for a picnic, right next to a giant ballistic missile.