San Bruno Mountain State Park is an urban‑edge open‑space ridge on the northern San Mateo Peninsula that protects about 2,400 acres of coastal scrub, grasslands and rare serpentine habitats while providing panoramic views across San Francisco, the Bay and surrounding cities.
Disney California Adventure Park, located in Anaheim, California, opened on February 8, 2001, on the site that once served as Disneyland’s parking lot.
Morro Strand State Beach is a broad, sandy three‑mile shoreline north of Morro Rock that’s popular for beachcombing, surfing, wind‑sports and shoreline fishing while offering sweeping views of Morro Bay and the volcanic landmark.
Columbia State Historic Park in Tuolumne County, California, preserves the authentic Gold Rush town of Columbia—once dubbed the Gem of the Southern Mines—as a living open-air museum with nearly 30 restored 1850s buildings including a schoolhouse, firehouses, blacksmith shop, hotel, and saloons where costumed docents demonstrate period crafts like gold panning and candle dipping.
Trione-Annadel State Park covers over 5,000 acres on the eastern edge of Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, California, blending oak woodlands, grasslands, volcanic hills, and Lake Ilsanjo amid remnants of Wappo and Southern Pomo heritage, Mexican ranchos, and basalt quarries that supplied cobblestones for San Francisco streets.
Half Dome is a distinctive granite dome located in Yosemite National Park, California, standing about 4,737 feet above Yosemite Valley and at an elevation of 8,846 feet above sea level.
Martial Cottle Park is a 287‑acre urban park in South San Jose that preserves historic family farmland and celebrates the Santa Clara Valley’s agricultural heritage while offering modern recreational and educational uses.
MacKerricher State Park, north of Fort Bragg on California’s Mendocino Coast, is a large coastal reserve spanning roughly nine miles of shoreline that includes beaches, rocky headlands, dunes, wetlands and a freshwater lake, making it rich in habitats and wildlife.
Sutter Buttes, often called the world's smallest mountain range, rise dramatically about 2,000 feet above California's flat Sacramento Valley in Sutter County, forming a roughly 10-mile-wide circle of eroded volcanic lava domes from eruptions 1.6 to 1.4 million years ago.
Ishxenta State Park (formerly Point Lobos Ranch) is a protected 1,300‑plus acre coastal park on the northern Big Sur coast that preserves one of the world’s largest native Monterey pine stands, rare Gowen cypress and maritime chaparral habitats while protecting important riparian areas along San Jose Creek.
The Stanford Mansion in Sacramento is a restored 19th-century Victorian mansion built in 1856 that served as the home and gubernatorial office of Leland Stanford and today functions as a California State Historic Park and official state reception house.
The Hollywood Sign, perched on Mount Lee in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, was originally erected in 1923 as an advertisement for a real estate development called Hollywoodland.
Bean Hollow State Beach is a narrow 44-acre stretch of rugged San Mateo County coastline in California, located 17.5 miles south of Half Moon Bay and three miles south of Pescadero along Highway 1, featuring two distinct areas—Pebble Beach with its ocean-polished, colorful stones like agates and jade, and Arroyo de los Frijoles Beach with a sandy cove flanked by rocky tide pools teeming with anemones, crabs, sea urchins, and other marine life.
The Castro Adobe (Rancho San Andrés) is a rare, two‑story Mexican‑era adobe hacienda built in 1848–49 in Watsonville’s Pájaro Valley that preserves Rancho‑period architecture, artifacts and stories of the Castro family and the region’s Indigenous and ranching histories.
The Coachella Valley Preserve’s Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve is a protected desert oasis near Palm Springs that shelters a cluster of native California fan palms and spring-fed pools created where groundwater rises along fault lines, making a surprisingly lush refuge in an otherwise arid landscape.
California State Route 1, commonly known as the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), is a scenic north-south highway that runs along most of California's Pacific coastline, stretching approximately 656 miles from Dana Point in Southern California to Leggett in Northern California.
Soboba Casino Resort is a luxury tribal gaming destination in San Jacinto, California, in the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains, owned by the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians.
Asilomar State Beach is a stunning 107-acre stretch on the Monterey Peninsula in Pacific Grove, California, featuring a narrow one-mile ribbon of sandy shores, rocky coves, windswept dunes, and dramatic bluffs where waves crash against tide pools teeming with sea anemones, starfish, and marine life protected within the Asilomar State Marine Reserve.
