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California, Sacramento Climate | Destinations | Events | Food | Foreign Visitors | History | Language | Lodging | Maps | Money | Parks | Recreation | Resorts | Seasons | Tours | Contact Us | Travel | Pic's of area |Load Thumbnails | Tips | Warnings! --|Your "State Tourism Ad" Here!
Nicknames: The El Dorado, Golden (because of the California gold deposits.) Motto: "Eureka - (I Have Found It)." State Flower: Golden Poppy. The name California is taken from the Spanish story, Las Sergas de Esplandian, by Ordonex de Montalvo (1510), in which California is an island paradise or Shangri-la.
TOPOGRAPHY: Area: Total, 158,297 sq. miles; water, 2,645 sq. miles; second in size in the lower 48 states. Boundaries: N,. Oregon; E., Nevada, Arizona (Colorado River); S., Mexico; W., Pacific Ocean. Elevation: Lowest, Death Valley, -280 feet below sea level; highest, Mt. Whitney, 14,496 ft., average, 2,900 feet. CHIEF RIVERS: San Joaquin, Sacramento (the only navigable rivers), Colorado, Feather, American, and Klamath. California has a rugged coastline that is 1,000 miles long. San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego are the chief harbors. Mountains north and south; Coast Range and, in the east, the Sierra Nevada range, with many deep gorges, 40 peaks between 5,000 and 8,000 ft., and 11 above 14,000 ft. Many marks of former glaciers. Several large lakes, especially Lake Tahoe (altitude, 6,225 ft.), Clear Lake, and Goose Lake on the Northeastern corner of the state. Numerous sleeping/extinct volcanoes. Mt. Lassen last erupted 1914-1917. Along the southern coast many fertile plains; Sacramento-San Joaquin valley, also a great agricultural area. Desert region in the southeast; Mojave Desert to the east of Los Angeles. The Salton Sea is a large lake in the south. North of Los Angeles, Death Valley, 50 miles long, is the lowest point in the U.S.. National forest lands, 23,987,000 acres. (total area).
Climate- Mild, uniform, sunshiny, though it has wide ranges of temperatures and rainfall; season, wet and dry, instead of winter and summer, generally speaking. Annual rainfall ranges from 70 inches or more in the north to 10 inches or less in the south.
Destinations- Salmon & Steel-head Fishing at its' best. See the Umpqua River in Oregon for the ultimate vacation! Click Here!Contact WorldTourist to list your company here!
Events- (California Events Search) Click Here!
Food- Larger cities have almost every kind of food. Smaller towns are more traditional American in their cooking.
Foreign Visitors- Foreigners entering the United States must carry two documents: A valid Passport, expiring not less than 6 months prior to the scheduled end of their visit to the U.S.; and a tourist visa obtainable at any American consulate at no charge. Anyone applying for an immigrant's visa must obtain a screening test for the AIDS-HIV virus. This test does not apply to tourists. Any visitor with a medical condition that requires treatment with narcotics or with paraphernalia must carry a valid, signed prescription from their doctor. Travel insurance is optional in the US but required by most car rental companies. See our link on money conversion for foreign guests.
History- The Spanish were some of the first settlers from the new world in California. Mission San Diego de Alcala, located 5 miles east of the City of San Diego, was the first of many constructed by the Franciscan Fathers along the California coast. It was built in 1769.
Language- English, Spanish
Lodging & Links- Contact WorldTourist to list your company here!
Money- US Currency - Currency conversion from: www.oanda.com/convert/cheatsheet
Parks- (California State Parks Search), (National Parks- see WorldTourist Search Page)
Recreation- Contact WorldTourist to list your company here!
Resorts- Contact WorldTourist to list your company here!
Seasons- Northern California has more of a wet and dry season than summer and winter. Southern California is somewhat the same but generally less wet and warmer. High mountain areas in California are of course exceptions to this generalization!
Tours- Contact WorldTourist to list your company here!
Travel- Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), San Francisco International Airport (SFX), are to two main airports for California. Other smaller airports include: John Wayne Airport (LA), and Oakland Airport near San Francisco. Most other communities have smaller airports and some service. Most larger areas have public transportation. Much of this is busy with commute traffic during the week. BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) just completed a large update and is running quite smoothly. Bus service is available in most cities. An automobile is still the best way to see California.
Warnings- In the smaller California towns the people are still quite friendly! In the more populated areas people are not as likely to talk to strangers. Some of the larger cities have a huge crime problem and you must be vigilant to avoid becoming a victim. The best advise is to keep your eyes open to what is going on around you. If something doesn't feel right, it probably isn't right! Keep your wits about you and you will survive California's larger cities!
