How can the “father of the California wine industry” still be walking around after more than 160 years? Why do thousands of beer lovers flock to Sonoma County from across the US once a year? Where can we play “top gun” in a real fighter jet? And why are Snoopy, Woodstock, and all the Charlie Brown gang standing around all over the place? Countless curiosities, icons and hidden treasures fill the pages of Secret Sonoma: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure. From hidden beaches on a world-famous coastline to wineries unknown even by oenophiles, from the tallest trees on the planet and NASCAR stars to rollicking tales of 18th and 19th century California, this is your ticket to adventure and surprises in the California Wine Country. A veteran author and Sonoma County native, Karen Misuraca reveals her deepest, darkest secrets of where she sees ghosts of centuries past, buys fetishes to vanquish her enemies, and bellies up to the bar in Gold Rush-era roadhouses. Where does she fly through the treetops, stargaze through powerful telescopes, and loll in geothermal hot springs? Even if you and your friends have been here before, and especially if you live here, Secret Sonoma is your new book of wonders.

How do you step into a live fairytale with aerial dancers, opera singers, and a huge rabbit? Where can you walk on a beach covered with broken pottery? What is the Institute for Abnormal Arts? Who will show you evidence Bigfoot is real? Find the answers to these questions and many more in Secret California: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure. This is a book for travelers who love to meet quirky characters, discover oddities, and experience littleknown aspects of the Golden State. Learn the fascinating tales behind all the points of interest and discover some new places to look for adventure. Learn where to spend a night in a museum, explore an underground city, and watch silent movies in the same theater where Charlie Chaplin premiered The Tramp. Find out about the country’s only perfume museum, how a wall became covered in frogs, and why a colorful garden will not grow. Whether it’s an ancient society’s crypt or the second city underneath the capital, this guide leaves no stone unturned. Author Ruth Carlson uses her years of experience as a Californian to fill you in on the hilarious, the bizarre, and the beautiful in this unusual guidebook so you can experience the hidden treasures locals would like to keep to themselves—if only they knew about them!

Which scientific landmark moonlights as a mausoleum? Where can you find sacred street food? When was there nearly a Civil War battle in San Jose? What civil rights icon got started in San Jose? What’s the real story behind Sarah Winchester’s mysterious house? Find the answers to these and other questions you didn’t know you had. From player pianos to disappearing lakes, from ghost towns to buried limbs, this unconventional guidebook will take you through bizarre and fascinating stories that define San Jose’s history and shaped this one-of-a-kind city. Whether you are a life-long San Jose resident, a new transplant, or a first-time visitor, local writer Cassie Kifer will introduce you to quirky and beautiful places and share stories about the city that never get told. Part tour and part scavenger hunt, this guide will take you to some of the weirdest and most wonderful places in Northern California’s biggest and most misunderstood city.

Is it safe to photograph bobolinks at a once-contaminated nuclear weapons plant? Is it possible to channel a medium from whatever realm she inhabits in the afterlife? Is that really a bathtub hanging from the ceiling? Did you know you can watch an unscripted star show with an audience of only eighteen? Find pieces of an exquisite old castle-like building all over the city? Hear a free concert outdoors in the dead of winter? Conduct your own paranormal investigation at a honky-tonk? See the world’s largest steam engines? Browse and buy animal skulls? Told with wonder, humor, and a big dose of sentimentality, here is a travel guide that lauds those little (and little-known) treasures all over town. From a tower missing its church and a maze you can meditate your way through to a book relating to a real-life beheading and a memorial to the last passenger pigeon, Secret Cincinnati is an exuberant shout-out to all that makes Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky the sometimes weird and always wonderful place it is.

Where can you find a chunk of the Matterhorn enshrined at a Utah ski resort? What is the origin of Josepa, the Hawaiian ghost town in the desert? And why is Utah called the Beehive State? You hold in your hands the answers to these questions and more in this guide to the oddities, wonders, myths, and legends of Utah’s capital city. Secret Salt Lake City opens a window into the weird, the bizarre, and the obscure secrets of the city, some of which are hiding in plain sight. Founded by religious pioneers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1847, its one-of-a-kind origin story makes Salt Lake City a rich backdrop for frontier grit, culture, and curious relics. Did you know that there is an alphabet hidden in your computer that was invented in Salt Lake City? What is the significance of the religious symbols on the Salt Lake Temple? And how did Sherlock Holmes solve a fictional mystery in London that originated in Utah? Lifetime resident and author Jeremy Pugh and Mary Brown Malouf unlock these mysteries and more to pull back the curtain on the secrets of Salt Lake City. This isn’t your traditional guidebook, and it will enrich your visit to the Crossroads of the West.

With a well-known nickname like the “Biggest Little City in the World,” you might think Reno has no secrets. But you shouldn’t bet on that. For example, What is Reno’s connection to Mount Rushmore? How can you participate in a real-life cattle drive, see a shrunken head, or sip a glass of Picon punch in the midst of poltergeists? Arm yourself instead with Secret Reno: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure, and you’ll soon discover these and many more of the city’s secrets and lesser-known adventures. How about a lazy day kayaking down the Truckee River? You might want to climb the world’s tallest artificial climbing wall, or take a stroll where the lynching of an innocent man occurred in 1892. But be warned—his angry ghost is said to haunt the location, occasionally harassing passersby. If you’ve donned your leathers and are all in for a bike ride, you might want to know that Reno has an annual motorcycle rally not to be missed. Local author Janice Oberding loves to find adventure off the beaten path and be your guide to unconventional, but worthwhile, exploration. All you’ll need is here in this book about the Biggest Little City’s secrets.

Where can you see a spider as big as a school bus? How did the world’s largest flying dinosaur land in Austin? Where is the college dorm room where a struggling student started Dell computers? And why are there thousands and thousands of bats in Austin? Find the answers to these questions and many more in Secret Austin: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure. Learn about the lost-cause oil rig that became a gusher and funded higher education for generations. Follow in the footsteps of famous Austinites like Janis Joplin, Farrah Fawcett, and Matthew McConaughey. With life long journalists and Austin fans Cheryl and Les Thomas as your guides, you’re bound to find more than a few surprises about Austin—even if you’ve lived there forever. Whether you’re a slacker, an entrepreneur, a poet, or just a bluebonnet admirer, you’ll find Austin’s most fascinating hidden gems, strange history, and obscure trivia in this guide to the “City of the Violet Crown.”