I recently discovered this online, collaborative catalog of “wondrous and curious places”, The Atlas Obscura.  It’s a great source to find odd things to see and explore both near home and afar.  Browsing the listings, I found plenty of little local surprises in addition to the places I had already seen or been.  Check it out in your own area or the next time you’re traveling somewhere!

The first one Darlene and I ended up checking out was The Statues of Ken Fox in Auburn. I’d seen the giant sculpture of a gold-panning prospector along Interstate 80 in Auburn, but I wasn’t aware of the artist/dentist’s other, similarly massive creations in town.  Here’s a more complete backstory on Ken Fox and his creations.

We also went hiking around the intersection of several historic routes (wagon, train and automobile) in the Sierra Nevada, at Donner Summit: the first wagon trail to California, first transcontinental railroad, first transcontinental highway.

Click through for more pictures.