Exploring California is like taking a step back in time. From the rainy north coast to the arid Colorado Desert in the south, and from the Mediterranean-style central and southern coastlines to the volcanic plateau of the far northeast, California is a land of striking physical contrasts. Cunningham has created realistic paintings of the state's primitive landscape, beautifully recreated in the book. There is a painting of brown bears resting under a large oak tree and one of them eating the corpse of a whale that has arrived ashore.
There are paintings of swamps full of birds and small mammals and paintings of native pastures. Cunningham also includes “before and after” paintings, such as El Cerrito Plaza in the 21st century and the same place thousands of years before. The California State Water Project, launched in 1960, is the largest water transfer system ever implemented. The fluid nature of the state's social, economic and political life, largely shaped by the influx of people from other states and countries, has for centuries turned California into a laboratory for testing new ways of life.
Water is chronically scarce in Southern California and desert regions, but excessive rainfall and snowmelt cause winter flooding along rivers on the north coast. No version of the origin of the name California has been fully accepted, but there is broad support for the claim that it derived from a Spanish novel from the early 16th century, Las Sergas de Esplandián (“The Adventures of Esplandian”), which described a paradise island full of gold and precious stones called California. In addition to carefully studying books and handling fossils at UC Berkeley libraries and across the state, she hung out on ridge tops to catch a glimpse of a California condor. California's coastline, approximately 1,100 miles (1,800 km) long, is mountainous, and most dramatic is in the Santa Lucia mountain range south of San Francisco, where towering cliffs rise about 240 meters (800 feet) above the ocean.
In the southeast is the Mojave Desert, which, with more than 25,000 square miles (65,000 square km), occupies one-sixth of California's land area. Solvang is a little piece of Denmark located in beautiful Santa Barbara County and is another place in California that resembles Europe. In fact, California is a place that was not only shaped in the beginning by American pioneers heading west, but also by Spaniards, Native Americans, and more. There are many factors that contribute to California's overall appeal to buyers, including the varied styles of home architecture that can be found throughout the state.
So if you're looking for a European vacation without having to fly abroad and spend a ton of money, look no further than these places in California that resemble Europe. It is designed to deliver daily water from the Feather River (a tributary of the Sacramento River) in north-central California to communities as far south as the border with Mexico. Nowadays, the Craftsman house is most popular in the southern United States but can be found all over America and especially in California - in areas surrounding San Francisco and Los Angeles. She discovered some animals that once lived in California but no longer do - such as the Gong - an albatross-like bird that has a distinctive cry. Exploring this beautiful state offers an array of experiences - from its primitive landscape to its modern cities - making it an ideal destination for travelers looking for something unique.
