NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
I CAN GIVE IT TO YOU IN ONE WORD:
Northern California has VARIETY! Travel anywhere in NorCal, from the highest tip of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, to California’s Wine Country, to its cities and towns, to California’s Central Valley, to the rocky shores and sandy beaches of the NorCal coast – you’re sure to find something YOU love!
This is your one-stop Travel Guide for tips on where to go, what to see, and what you can do in the North State. Whether you’re planning to visit us here in NorCal, or you’re a long-time resident, join us in exploring our little corner of the world!
From a family visit from years ago to something
you discovered last weekend,
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FAVORITE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA SITES AND SIGHTS!
One of Many Northern California Beaches;
Photo by Suzi Rosenberg
You’ll encounter all of this and more along the Northern California coastline! From Big Sur, Carmel, and Monterey Bay, to San Francisco, Point Reyes, the Lost Coast, Crescent City and beyond…
Take a drive along State Highway 1 hugging the California coastline most of the way, and you’ll discover isolated coves and beaches, the dramatic rocky headlands of Mendocino Village with their sheer drops to the restless Pacific Ocean below; the fascinating off-shore rock formations called Sea Stacks; giant coastal Redwoods, and the wildlife that resides in or near the water. It’s one of my favorite drives!
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Sonoma County Vineyard;
Photo by Wolf Rosenberg
I know you’ve heard of the California Wine Country, which officially encompasses Sonoma County and Napa Valley, but come along while we unveil the lesser-known, but equally important wine regions of NorCal.
It seems new
wineries and exciting new appellations crop up every day and they’re growing wine grapes where only raisins grew before!
Some Northern California wine regions are rediscovering their area’s ability to produce premium wines after a hiatus; others are finding ways to grow quality wine grapes where none grew before. Just to name a few:
- Lake County produced fine wines in the late 1800s, but
switched to other crops after Prohibition. Today, Lake County is back in the game and is home to many fabulous wineries, including Guenoc.
- Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley was originally known for its apple and other fruit orchards, but – although pioneer families probably grew grapes and produced wine for their own consumption, and other attempts at wine making occurred along the way – Anderson Valley didn’t get underway as a wine-producing area until the 1970s.
- And how about California’s Gold Country – vineyards were planted in Amador County for commercial purposes as early as 1856 with the idea of satisfying the insatiable thirst of alcohol of your average Forty-niner! But, thanks to the Gold Rush Bust and Prohibition, wine making died out there until its resurgence in the 1960s. Today you’ll find complex Zins and exotic varietals in the Sierra Foothills.
- And then there’s Lodi. That’s right, just as in the CCR lyrics, “Oh! Lord, stuck in Lodi again.” There was a time when those lyrics made sense, but no more! Along with the Gold Country, Lodi is one of California’s newer wine tasting destinations with a well-deserved reputation for fine wines.
SF Victorians in The Haight;
Photo by Wolf Rosenberg
NorCal cities are as diverse as sophisticated and European-esque San Francisco, heavily counter-culture-influenced Berkeley, Gold Rush jump-off and ex-cowtown Sacramento, Spanish-adobied and historic Monterey, college-town all-grown-up San Jose, and Surf City Santa Cruz.
The Bay Area is an obvious place to start when visiting Northern
California cities as there are so many, so close together. Explore the multitudinous opportunities for theater, opera, musicals, ballet; art, cultural, natural history museums; fine dining, five-star hotels; and shopping, shopping, shopping. Everything you would expect from city life!
But don’t overlook Sacramento, California’s State Capital. Though it started life as a Gold Rush Boom Town, and later had a long-lived reputation as a cowtown – both of which reputations Sacramentans take a slightly guilty pleasure in promoting – Sacramento has come into its own as a destination city.
Many other NorCal cities will surprise you with their offerings as well,
like the city of Chico – my AHT (Adopted Home Town). Or Santa Rosa, at one time home to famed horticulturalist Luther Burbank, and Charles M. Schultz, creator of the Peanuts cartoon. Or Salinas, agricultural community and surprisingly, the County Seat of Monterey County. Come along while we explore them all!
THE LAND OF WINTER SPORTS
Snow-bear and Heart – sculptor unknown;
Photo by Suzi Rosenberg
One of the things I love most about Northern California is not only the variety of scenery, but the variety of weather too!
On the same day, within a couple of hundred miles of each other, visitors and residents alike can be enjoying a balmy day at the beach or an exhilarating day of Alpine Meadows; and Squaw Valley where the 1960 Winter Olympics were held…
But did you know Yosemite National Park is stunning – and accessible – in the winter as well? Get your winter sports fix throughout the park (cross-country skiing and snowshoeing; ice skating), or at Badger Pass ski area (downhill skiing and snowboarding). Most people aren’t aware of this option because they only visit during the summer.
And Alpine County – affectionately nicknamed the California Alps – combines snow sports with hot springs. I can’t imagine a better combination than that!
You won’t find more diversification of nature and wildlife than you’ll encounter in the wilds of Northern California, and in many cases, you don’t have to go far to find it!
Travel the North State and you’ll turn up Redwood forests teeming with wildlife; wetlands along the Pacific Flyway, which are used by millions of migratory waterfowl as they migrate South in the Winter; several species of whale that are very amenable to your whale watching pleasure; rolling hills covered in mustard in the Spring, undulating oat grass in the Summer, and California Live Oaks year-round; Table Mountain near Oroville, with its Spring carpet of blue, yellow, white, red, orange, and multicolored wildflowers; mountain ranges big (the Sierra Nevadas, the Cascades, the Trinity Alps, the California Alps) and small(Sutter Buttes), each with its own series of ecosystems!
There are rivers, streams, and lakes; rain forests and deserts; bears, mountain lions, elk, and deer; snow-covered granite peaks and long flat valleys; sports fishing and hunting; sandy beaches and rocky shores; literally something for everyone!
Whether you want a Sunday Drive in the country or a full-on isolationist backpacking trip into the Trinity Alps, you’ll find it all here in Northern California!
Old Sacramento Gold Rush Days;
Photo by Suzi Rosenberg
Nothing says history like the California Gold Rush. There’s hardly a square inch of Northern California that wasn’t involved in one way or another.
A major jumping-off point:- San Francisco
The home of John Sutter, who owned the sawmill where gold was first discovered: Sacramento
And these major players: the Great Central Valley – where crops and cattle were raised to feed the miners. The Sierra Nevadas, the Cascades, and the Trinity Alps, where the gold was found, the California Alps, which played such an important part in getting gold seekers to California.
Names like Placerville, Hangtown, Coloma – where Sutter’s Mill was located, Fiddletown, Drytown (named for the dry gold mines, not the lack of saloons), Mokelumne Hill, Grass Valley, Nevada City, Auburn, Angels Camp – all invoke images of panning for color, Long Toms, hydraulic mining, and dredging.
But NorCal’s history began long before the Gold Rush. When Mexico ruled, it was an era of pueblos, haciendas, and huge grants of land where cattle were raised and life was good for the landlords.
And prior to that came the Spaniards with their missions. The most northerly of these (although actually built under Mexican rule) is Sonoma Mission, which was erected in the town of Sonoma as an outpost against the Russians.
But even before the Spanish, the Russians, the Mexicans –
thousands of years before – a dense population of Native Americans called Northern California home and lived off the land in varying degrees of peace and war.
And in California we value our history, so you’ll find much of the natural and man-made remnants of our history preserved and/or restored for the benefit of the Student of History within us all.
There’s something for everyone in Northern California! Whether
you’re coming for a visit or you live here, DiscoverNorthernCalifornia.com, your one-stop, on-line Travel Guide and place to go for your NorCal travel tips, will help you find what you’re looking for.
Together we’ll explore the well-know and popular tourist attractions, of course. But we’ll also unearth the hidden and secret places as well – the types of things only the locals know. To tell you the truth, I’ve lived in Northern California most of my life and I’m still discovering new things to see and places to go!
Would you like to do what I’m doing? I never thought I could be a webmaster and create my own website, but look at me now – and you can do it too! Find out how you, too, can have the website of your dreams!
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