jim van dyke's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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New Paltz, New York

Huguenot Street

The oldest continuously inhabited street in America.
Beacon, New York

Bannerman's Castle

Collapsing castle on the Hudson river was once the storage site of military surplus business.
Vallejo, California

Alden Park

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

The Blue Room

A once-glowing grotto at the bottom of Waikapalae Wet Cave.
Kapa'a, Hawaii

Kalalau Trail

This narrow coastline trail through the dense Kauai wilderness is among the most beautiful and dangerous in the world.
Bridgeport, California

Bodie State Historic Park

Standing in a state of "arrested decay," this ghost town allows for a detailed peek into Gold Rush life in an unusually harsh climate.
San Francisco, California

Japanese Tea Garden

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.
San Francisco, California

Ruins of the Sutro Baths

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

Wiñay Wayna

These steeply terraced ruins are a stop along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.
Arlington, Virginia

Arlington Temple United Methodist Church

This church built atop a gas station promises to "equip you for the next stage in your life’s journey."
Boston, Massachusetts

Site of the Boston Massacre

The American Revolution was galvanized into serious action due to the tragic clash with British soldiers that occurred at this location.
San Simeon, California

Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery

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

Street Performers of Las Ramblas

The iconic boulevard is the perfect place to catch sight of a bicycling skeleton, a levitating Satan, or a chef with his head stuck in a pizza.
Fez, Morocco

University of Al-Karaouine

The oldest known university in the world is in Fez, Morocco.
Port Costa, California

The Warehouse Cafe

Where the polar bear watches over everything, and every drink is a double.
Alamo, California

The Cow Bones of Mount Diablo

Cows on a ranch are commonplace, scattered cow bones everywhere? Not so much.
Walnut Creek, California

The Eye of Diablo

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

De Lauers Super Newsstand

The newsstand that never closes its doors—well, almost never.
Oakland, California

The Crucible

An art collective teaching the more fiery, metal-y art forms.
Oakland, California

16th Street Train Station

A crumbling Beaux Arts monument to the Bay Area's age of rail.
Oakland, California

Ratto's Market & Deli

International delicatessen has been owned and operated by the same family for more than 110 years.
Oakland, California

Mazzariello Labyrinth

Spiral labyrinth hidden in the hills above Oakland, CA.
Oakland, California

Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon

Dive bar built out of the remains of a whaling ship.
Big Sur, California

The Henry Miller Memorial Library

It's not your typical library, memorial, or book store.