40 Fascinating Places You Won't Believe Are in the United States

One of the newest national parks, White Sands in New Mexico, is a surreal field of stark white dunes, some up to 60 feet tall. They're not made of sand, but of gypsum — and this is the largest gypsum desert in the world.

If you prefer a more colorful backdrop for your photoshoot, visit the Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch in California. There are 50 acres full of Giant Tecolote Ranunculus flowers in all hues.

No passport? No problem. Head to Leavenworth, Washington to feel as if you've been transported to Germany. The town mimics a Bavarian village, complete with an Oktoberfest celebration each fall.

If you're looking to visit this impressive sandstone rock formation in Arizona, near the border of Utah, you're going to have to work for it. Very few permits are issued to visitors seeking to make the six-mile out-and-back hike — you have to be really lucky to score one.

There’s something incredibly humbling about standing next to a 300-foot-tall sequoia tree, which is exactly what you can do in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. They're located in California's Sierra Nevada mountains, and you can find the famous General Grant tree here.

The grand Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, is the largest home in the United States, built for George Vanderbilt in 1895. The 175,000-square-foot house was designed to emulate a French châteaux. It has 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and — wait for it — 65 fireplaces.

Alaska's Mendenhall Glacier holds a secret inside: Beautiful blue ice caves that glow with ethereal light. Fortunately for visitors, they're relatively easy to access. The glacier is just 12 miles from Juneau, and you can book guided hikes to the caves.

Located in the Wyoming portion of Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest hot spring in the country and the third largest in the world. Its rainbow hues are created by heat-loving microorganisms drawn to the 160-degree-Fahrenheit water — this is very much a case of "look, but don't touch."

If you came across these buildings and assumed you were in Europe, you wouldn't be entirely wrong. Four historic cloisters from France were disassembled, shipped around the world, and reassembled in New York City. They're now home to the medieval branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Head west from Salt Lake City, Utah to find a salt-themed natural attraction: the Bonneville Salt Flats. This popular photoshoot destination occupies 300,000 acres of Utah's desert, every square inch covered in a flat salt crust.

California is home to some of the harshest environments in the United States, including Death Valley, where the temperature has reached 134 degrees Fahrenheit. But despite its extreme heat, the area is also extremely picturesque with colorful rock formations, such as the ones at Zabriskie Point, shown here.

St. Augustine, Florida looks as if it was picked up from the Mediterranean and shipped overseas. Many of the town's buildings feature Spanish-style architecture, a nod to its Spanish colonial period in the 16th century.

It's easy to forget that the United States is home to a rain forest, largely because it's not in a tropical climate. The Hoh Rain Forest is a temperate one in Washington's Olympic National Park, where many surfaces — including trees — are blanketed in thick moss.

The Portland Japanese Garden in Oregon has been hailed as "the most beautiful and authentic Japanese garden in the world outside of Japan" by Nobuo Matsunaga, the former Ambassador of Japan to the United States. The garden's 12 acres once belonged to a zoo!

One of the oldest lakes in the country, formed an estimated 1 million years ago, Mono Lake in California is extremely salty. It's known for its limestone tufa tower formations, which jut out of the lake.

Look down as you're flying into Kahului Airport on Maui, Hawaii, and you might spot this crescent-shaped island in the sea. This is the Molokini Crater, a former volcano that's now one of the best snorkeling and diving destinations in the Hawaiian Islands.

The town of Pella, Iowa is very proud of its Dutch heritage. How can you tell? Downtown is home to the tallest working grain windmill in the country. There's also the Molengracht Canal, which is reminiscent of Amsterdam's own canal system — it's even lined with Amsterdam-style architecture!

No, these fragrant lavender fields are not in the south of France. They're found in Sequim, Washington, which hosts an annual lavender festival each summer.

A medieval building and vineyards? This must be Italy! Or ... California's Napa Valley. Castello di Amorosa winery was inspired by 13th-century Tuscan architecture.

Crater Lake, the namesake and highlight of Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, is set in the caldera of an ancient volcano. At nearly 2,000 feet deep, it's the deepest lake in the United States.