The hook
A white spar leans over the Sacramento River in Redding, holding up a glass-decked footbridge that is also a working sundial, one of the largest in the world.
01Why it's worth it
The Sundial Bridge is Santiago Calatrava's, opened in 2004, with a single 217-foot pylon angled like a gnomon so the whole 700-foot span tells time: its shadow tracks across a dial on the north bank, moving about a foot a minute, though the arc is so wide it only reads the hours from eleven to three. The deck is translucent nonskid glass, chosen so it casts no shadow on the salmon spawning below, and the bridge crosses the river without a single support touching the water. It links the two halves of Turtle Bay Exploration Park, with an arboretum and museum on the banks. For a mid-sized city most people know only as a hot stop on Interstate 5, it's a genuinely world-class piece of design, and it's free to walk any time.
02How to experience it
It's at Turtle Bay in Redding, just off I-5 about three and a quarter hours north. Come midday if you want to watch the shadow move on the dial; it's lit and open at night as well. Pair it with the park's arboretum, or use it as the reason to break the long I-5 drive up toward Shasta or the Oregon border.