Bliss Hill

This gently rolling green hillside in Sonoma County is best known as the real-world location of 'Bliss' — the landscape photograph taken by Charles O'Rear in 1996 that Microsoft licensed as the default desktop wallpaper for Windows XP, making it arguably one of the most-viewed images in history. Most users who stared at it for years had no idea it depicted a specific place in California wine country. The site sits on private vineyard land north of Sonoma town; public access is not guaranteed, but the surrounding wine-country hills and open grassland can be experienced on nearby trails.