Clare Swaney's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Sydney, Australia

Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

Come for the flowers, stay for the bats!
Masvingo, Zimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe

The largest prehistoric ruins south of the Sahara, once a powerful center of international trade.
Harare, Zimbabwe

Balancing Rocks of the Zimbabwe Dollar

These naturally balancing rocks were pictured on every Zimbabwean banknote, up to the 100 trillion-dollar note.
Chicago, Illinois

Crown Fountain

The twin towers in this Chicago fountain use 50 foot tall video screens to spit on people.
Beatty, Nevada

Rhyolite Ghost Town

Odd outsider art installations surround a Gold Rush-era ghost town.
Paris, France

I Love You Wall

Paris' linguistic guide to the international language of, yes, love.
Yosemite National Park, California

Horsetail Fall's Firefall

Under the right circumstances, this waterfall in Yosemite briefly turns a luminescent fiery orange.
San Francisco, California

Alcatraz Island

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.
Page, Arizona

Horseshoe Bend

Dramatic river bend surrounds a natural red-rocked pedestal.
Washington, D.C.

House of the Temple

This imposing Masonic temple a mile from the White House was the first public library in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.

Civil War Nurses Memorial

A bas relief commemorates the "Nuns of the Battlefield" who cared for soldiers on both sides of the conflict.
Lowell charter Township, Michigan

James C. Veen Observatory

This observatory comes complete with three separate telescopes and a dedicated community of amateur and expert astronomers.
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Ann Arbor’s Fairy Doors

The city is full of whimsical portals to another world.
Crater Lake, Oregon

Crater Lake

The deepest lake in the United States, and once the site of epic destruction that lives on in legends.
Lee Vining, California

Mono Lake

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

Bonsai Rock, Lake Tahoe

Eastern zen meets Western grit in these four little trees growing out of a rock on Lake Tahoe’s Nevada shore.
Incline Village, Nevada

The Flume Trail

A breathtaking 19th-century trail overlooks Lake Tahoe.
Reno, Nevada

Old Reno Arch

The arch that celebrated the completion of the Lincoln and Victory highways.
Sparks, Nevada

Scheels Sporting Goods

Curiously, this large sporting goods store features 14 wax representations of American presidents.