Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Welcome to California
From towering redwood forests in foggy Northern California
to perfectly sun-kissed surf beaches in Southern California, this
Golden State alongside the Pacific is a prize.
Natural Beauty
Don't be fooled by its perpetually fresh outlook and gung-ho attitude: California is older
than it seems. Coastal bluffs and snowy peaks were created over millennia of tectonic up-
heavals that have threatened to shake California right off the continent. After unchecked
19th-century mining, logging and oil-drilling threatened to undermine the state's natural
splendors, California's pioneering environmentalists - including John Muir and the Sierra
Club - rescued old-growth trees and spurred the creation of national and state parks that
still astound visitors today.
Fabulous Food & Drink
Because California produces most of the fresh produce in the US, minor menu decisions
here can have nationwide impact. Every time they sit down to eat, Californians take trend-
setting stands on mealtime moral dilemmas: certified organic versus spray-free, farm-to-
table versus urban-garden-grown, veganism versus grass-fed humanely raised meats. But no
matter what you order, it's likely to be local and creative, and it had better be good. For a
chaser, California produces over 90% of the nation's wine-making grapes, and has twice as
many breweries as any other state.
Creative Arts & Tech
From the Gold Rush to the dot-com bubble, California has survived extreme booms and
busts, often getting by on its wits. Hollywood still makes most of the world's movies and
TV shows, fed by a vibrant performing arts scene on stages across the state. Trends are
kick-started here not by moguls in offices, but by motley crowds of surfers, artists and
