Super-Size California

How many times did Lucy really pull that football away from Charlie Brown? You’ll get a good sense at this museum created by the widow and family of Charles Schulz, the comic-strip legend behind Snoopy, Linus, and the rest of the Peanuts gang. The museum, in the Sonoma County town of Santa Rosa (where Schulz lived for 30 years, until his death in 2000), includes thousands of original sketches and drawings, Schulz’s personal effects (like his own Charlie-esque baseball mitt), and TV specials on view in the theater; you can also sign up for art classes to learn how to draw cartoons.

Only Paris has more sculptures by French artist Auguste Rodin than Stanford University, in Palo Alto, about 35 miles south of San Francisco. Its Cantor Arts Center houses 200 pieces (including a cast of The Thinker), and the outdoor Sculpture Garden displays 20 bronze pieces, including The Gates of Hell. You can take free docent-led tours of the entire collection on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

With 80 different labels and 20,000 acres of vineyards scattered through California’s wine regions, the family winery started by two brothers (Ernest and Julio) in 1933, is now the biggest in the world, with $4.1 billion in annual revenue. The company was founded in the Central Valley town of Modesto, but Gallo now owns labels and vineyards statewide. One of the newest is Talbott Vineyards, with estates in the Central Coast’s lovely Carmel Valley, and just east, in the Santa Lucia Highlands south of Salinas. Tasting rooms at each location let you sample Talbott’s Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vintages.

It's not just the most massive tree in the world; it’s the biggest living thing, period. This monster in Sequoia National Park stands 275 feet high—not the world’s tallest, but still a neck-craner. But what makes this tree a record-holder is its girth: The General measures 102 feet around at the base, giving it a volume of a whopping 52,500 cubic feet. It’s also believed to be one of the world’s oldest trees, with estimates ranging from 2,300 to 2,700 years old. Not far from the General Sherman is the equally impressive (but slightly smaller) General Grant Tree, nicknamed the “Nation’s Christmas Tree” and the site of a low-key ceremony at its base held every Christmas since 1925. 

This goofy selfie stop sits right off I-15 in the aptly named desert town of Baker, about two hours south of the main entrance to Death Valley National Park. The working thermometer measures 134 feet tall, and can record temperatures of up to—yes!—134° F, in honor of the hottest temp ever recorded in Death Valley. The thermometer was decommissioned in 2012, but in a triumphant comeback, it was recommissioned on July 10, 2014—the 101st anniversary of the world’s hottest day. 

The enormous Spreckels Organ, with 4,725 pipes, debuted in San Diego’s Balboa Park in 1915. For decades it was the world's largest outdoor organ‚ until it was overtaken by another impressive pipe organ in Kufstein, Austria. But recent donations during the Spreckels’ 2015 centennial have helped add dozens of new pipes, including ones that sound like a tuba, train whistle, and police siren. The result brought the organ’s total to 5,005 pipes—and back into the number one position. On Sunday afternoons year-round, you can hear the organ take a victory lap by way of free concerts.