General Information:
California is about 700 miles long by 250 miles wide with a population approaching 33 million people, about one tenth of the population of the United States! Most of these people live in the San Diego - Los Angeles region.. about 100 miles long by 50 miles wide or in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is about 75 miles long by 25-30 miles wide.
About one eighth of the nation's economy depends on California's businesses as well as a far higher percentage of electronics and other "high tech" industries. It's economy, even with downturns in recent years caused mainly by cuts in government military spending, still ranks it among the top ten countries in the world!
While agriculture only representing about 1 or 2 percent of the state's total economy, California is a primary source of vegetables during the winter months for many parts of the U.S.
The state ranks first or second (depending on the year and how you count it) in dairy product production. Wisconsin, of course, traditionally holds the title of "America's Dairy State". Wisconsin, however, still leads in the production of cheese.
The "cheesehead" tradition associated with fans of the Green Bay Packers, by the way, comes from the traditional regional football rivalry is between Green Bay and the Chicago Bears. Bear's fans disrespectfully began calling fans from Wisconsin "cheeseheads"many years ago. Not to let the "Flatlanders" have too much of a good time, Green Bay fans adopted the intended insult as a badge of loyalty and it was just a matter of time before someone came up with the cheese hat as symbol of team spirit!
Getting back to California, the rest of the state holds the remaining couple of million people so that the image of dense population, while certainly true for LA and the SF Bay Area, really does not apply to large areas in the state which actually have fairly low population densities. In Northern California (the real northern California.. San Francisco is really just a bit north of the center of the state), the largest town is Redding with about 115,000 population and most of the other communities are under 10,000 with many well under 3,000 people.
On the Central Coast,
the largest cities are Monterey,
Santa Cruz, and Salinas.
All three put together might add up to a little over 200,000 people with
about 120,000 living in Salinas. The Salinas Valley, of course, is
known as the Salad Bowl of the country and provides much of the Lettuce
and other vegetables consumed throughout the nation. Artichokes are
another crop unique to this region though they are grown in Castroville,
not Watsonville. Watsonville,
in fact, is the source of many of the gourmet strawberries sold throughout
the U.S. as well as Red Delicious, Pippin, and cider apples.
In the Central Valley, the State Capitol, Sacramento and the cities of Fresno and Bakersfield claim the high population honor. The primary nature of most of the Central Valley is still agricultural except for state government related activities and some computer related businesses in the Sacramento area.
The nature of the Northern Coast of California can most easily be seen by viewing the Ewok episode of the Star Wars trilogy. The Redwood forest seen in that movie is part of Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park which extends from the rocky coast of the Pacific up through 2,500 foot mountains which are less than 15 miles from the sea. Many trails are available as well as nicely isolated campsites for tents through large RVs.
This entire 300+ miles of coastline is an area well worth visiting for someone having the time and inclination. My wife, Linda, and I took the Coast Route (Highway 1) from San Francisco to Crescent City one summer, camping every 50-100 miles along the way at various California State parks. This rugged route hugs the cliffs along the coastline for much of the trip including a turnout just north of the Golden Gate Bridge providing a great view of San Francisco across the bay, an abandoned WWII gun emplacement also just north of SF, and a bird's eye view of the town of Stinson Beach from hundreds of feet above it along the cliffside route of Highway One.
Many also visit the wine country near Napa to sample and purchase world renowned California wines or view the Victorian Mansions throughout this region up through Santa Rosa and Petaluma.
Pt. Reyes National Seashore is also an interesting stop along the way whether to view the 15 foot displacement of a fence line caused by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, or to hike out a couple of miles to the seashore itself. There is presently no access charge for use of this extensive park.
Looking southward from the San Francisco, Pacifica and Half Moon Bay are
small communities which have small, often overlooked beaches (picture)
worth spending a little time to explore. Pigeon
Point Lighthouse shows up about half way to Santa Cruz along Route
1 and is known for its tidepools. Hermit crabs, sea anemones,
and other creatures living along the surf line are easily visible whenever
the receeding tide leaves them stranded in the pools along the rocky shoreline.
Caution, of course, is always the order of the day when browsing
among the pools or anywhere near the surf. Aside from slippery rocks,
unexpected waves can present severe hazards to the unwary!
Davenport is a small community not too many miles north of Santa Cruz where many go to spot whales during the migration season.
Ano Nuevo State Park provides a view of its famous Elephant Seals during their seasonal visit. Fishing trips out of Santa Cruz to the deep water off the western edge of the island provides opportunity to catch Ling Cod and other ocean fish. You may also spot a Great White Shark, if you're lucky, hopefully not after he's just eaten a 20 pound catch off the end of your fishing line! There have been many stories of people hauling in a line which suddenly goes slack only to find a head and no body when they lift what's left into the boat. The primary reason these monsters hang around the island is the ready availability of Elephant Seals, of course.
Further down the coast is Santa Cruz, a mixture of bedroom community for electronics workers in Silicon Valley and a resort community serving both regional and national tourists. The nearby communities of Aptos and Soquel have been known in the past as a haven musicians and artists of various kinds, and communities in the Santa Cruz Mountains like Felton, Ben Lommond, and Boulder Creek provide rustic settings containing dwellings as simple as two room cabins through well hidden, spacious mansions. Several state parks are located in the region including Big Basin , Henry Cowell , and Castle Rock State Park.
Also take a look at the Santa Cruz Mountains web site to get a feeling for the people and terrain located between Santa Cruz and San Jose. My shot of "A Dragon Eating an Egg" is just one "vision" one can find in the oddly pitted granite rock which gives its name to Castle Rock State Park which is on Highway 9 above Boulder Creek and Los Gatos. If you are from the Midwest and want some excitement, try taking Black Road down from the summit. This will redefine for you the term "two lane winding road"!
Moss Landing is a small fishing village near the Pacific Gas & Electric
(PG&E) oil-fired power generation plant. I'll have some more pictures
in the future, but for now, just one. The green seen along the surf
line is algae which has been washed up on shore. The sand dunes seen
in the background are in the process of being restored after many years
of too many people trampling over them, through them, and around them.
Today, most of the tracks you see in the dunes (which have been fenced
off from public access), are those of birds and various "critters" which
make their homes along the coast. The backwater on the other side
of the sand dunes is a prime spot for bird watchers tracking the coastal
bird population (picture)
The Monterey Bay is a unique place with multiple climates, varied terrain,
and people of almost every culture and nationality on earth. Some
of the terrain can be seen at the Reinas
Site. (Also see my photo of part of the beach near Asilomar.)
The Monterey Bay Aquarium web site provides an electronic walk through of this unique facility.
The Monterey Peninsula
has many attractions you can visit through their web site.
Email
to: jimeagle@execpc.com
