Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve is a quiet, day‑use redwood preserve in Mendocino County that protects old‑growth coast redwoods and a lush fern understory within a steep valley along Montgomery Creek.
Austin Creek State Recreation Area spans nearly 6,000 acres in Sonoma County, California, adjacent to Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve with a shared entrance near Guerneville, offering a stark contrast of open oak woodlands, grassy meadows, rolling hills, deep ravines with year-round streams, chaparral, conifer stands, and rocky summits up to 1,500 feet elevation that reveal Pacific Ocean glimpses.
Tule Elk State Natural Reserve is a 960-acre protected area in Kern County, California, near Buttonwillow and 25 miles west of Bakersfield, dedicated to conserving the rare tule elk subspecies once nearly extinct due to 19th-century overhunting.
Jackson Rancheria Casino Resort is a Native American casino resort owned by the Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwuk Indians, located at 12222 New York Ranch Road in Jackson, California, in Amador County within the Sierra Nevada foothills about 50 miles southeast of Sacramento.
El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park preserves the site of the last Spanish military outpost founded in Alta California in 1782, a compact urban historic compound in downtown Santa Barbara where original adobe structures and careful reconstructions tell the story of Spanish, Mexican, and early American eras.
Diamond Mountain Casino & Hotel is a Native American casino and lodging property owned by the Susanville Indian Rancheria tribe, consisting of Paiute, Maidu, Pit River, and Washoe Indians, located at 900 Skyline Drive in Susanville, California, in the northeastern Sierra Nevada region.
Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve is an 805-acre haven in Sonoma County, California, just north of Guerneville, preserving old-growth coast redwoods in a temperate rainforest that receives about 55 inches of rain annually, mostly from fall through spring.
Monterey State Historic Park is a compact, walkable district in downtown Monterey that preserves a remarkable collection of 19th‑century buildings and sites from California’s Spanish, Mexican and early American eras, anchored by the Monterey Custom House where the U.S. flag was first raised in California in 1846.
Twin Lakes State Beach stretches along a mile of sandy Monterey Bay shoreline in Santa Cruz, California, east of the Santa Cruz Harbor entrance between East Cliff Drive and 7th Avenue.
Lighthouse Field State Beach in Santa Cruz is a small coastal park on the north end of Monterey Bay that overlooks the famous Steamer Lane surf break and contains the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum housed in the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse.
Hatton Canyon is a protected urban open-space canyon in Carmel Valley near Carmel‑by‑the‑Sea that preserves Monterey pines, wetlands, and coastal scrub for passive recreation and habitat protection.
Corona del Mar State Beach, known as Crown of the Sea or Big Corona, spans a half-mile of sandy shoreline in Newport Beach, Orange County, California, framed by cliffs and a rock jetty marking the east entrance to Newport Harbor.
Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino is a Native American gaming and entertainment property owned by the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians, located at 711 Lucky Lane in Coarsegold, California, off State Route 41 between Fresno and Yosemite National Park.
Rancho Petaluma Adobe is the 19th‑century headquarters of General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo’s vast Rancho Petaluma, featuring the largest surviving adobe structure in California and a well‑preserved example of Monterey Colonial ranch architecture that anchors exhibits about Mexican‑era ranching, Indigenous labor, and early California history.
Will Rogers State Historic Park is a 186-acre California State Park located in the Santa Monica Mountains in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, established in 1944 to preserve the estate of beloved American humorist and movie star Will Rogers.
Salvation Mountain is a colorful hillside visionary environment created by artist Leonard Knight over 28 years, located in the California Desert near Niland, close to the community of Slab City.
