Twelve hundred stone carvings guard this off-the-beaten-path Buddhist temple.

Established over a thousand years ago, this family-run teahouse continues to serve skewers of sweet rice cake to this day.

The 10,000 Torii shrine.

More than 300 years old, Kyoto's historic "teahouse" still operates as an invitation-only geisha club.

This 700-year-old street food market features baby octopus and soy donuts.

At the base of Steens Mountain resides an otherworldly desert.

This extravagant Art Nouveau rest stop features a million-dollar view of the Columbia River.

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.

Quite simply the largest tree in the world (by volume).

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

A pair of large white marble lions guard this stretch of the Mojave Desert, and it is utterly mysterious how they got there.

The ghost town that ended up on Ebay.

This dormant volcanic crater has been converted from a roiling pit of magma to a pleasant hiking spot.

The largest dune field in the Mojave offers a chance of hearing the 'singing sands.'

A massive hydrovolcanic explosion left a half-mile wide crater in Death Valley.

"Only the devil could play golf here."

The lowest point in North America is home to an undrinkable pool surrounded by fields of geometric salt flats.

Millions of years of oxidation make a drive down this winding Death Valley road surprisingly colorful.

The largest wooden building in the world now houses a fascinating collection of aircraft.

A sprawling cave network created by a lone lava tube.

A Roman-style column in Oregon hides a spiral staircase inside.

This gorgeous beach hides behind two headlands in Oregon's Ecola State Park.

The park preserves a single, rare species of carnivorous plant that spells doom for unsuspecting insects.