The Greek word Eureka means "I have found it!" referencing the finding of gold in 1848 resulting in the famous California Gold Rush. For those seeking a golden lifestyle make California your next home.

With a coastline over 1200 miles long and the highest mountain peak in the contiguous United States, California offers something for everyone. Her robust economy is such that if the state were an independent nation it would be the sixth wealthiest country in the world. This, the most populous state, is also the third largest state in land area. It has the lowest elevation point in the United States (Death Valley National Park), three active volcanoes (all in the Cascade Mountain Range), a large natural lake referred to as "The Bass Capital of the West (Clearlake), the largest natural harbor and estuary on the west coast, (San Francisco Bay), the largest trees in the world (the Sequoia, a species of the Redwood), the oldest living thing in the world (the Bristlecone Pine tree nearly 5000 years old), the largest marine sanctuary in the country (from Golden Gate south past Big Sur to San Simeon in Monterey County), and over four million acres of National Park acreage along with over one million acres of State Parks, and this is just the beginning.

The state's climate is often compared to Mediterranean climes depending on distance from the ocean and the elevation. The state possesses five climatic zones: Coastal--which varies greatly along the coastline; Desert--meaning sparse rainfall; Foothill-- with elevations from 1,000 to 3,000 feet with some rain and little fog; Mountain--providing heavy snowfall, good skiing and sunny bright summers; and Valley--with its high temperatures, low humidity in the summer but high humidity in the winter.

California is definitely multicultural. Spanish influence in particular permeates the state. Also, before becoming part of the "New World," there were over 300 distinct tribes living here whose ancestors crossed the Bering Straits from Asia thousands of years ago. California was conquered by the Mexicans in the 19th century, drew Easterners during the mid-19th century Gold Rush, and the 1930's Dust Bowl propelled further westward migration to the Pacific. Today, she is therefore a mixture of a variety of cultures - a veritable tableaux of humanity.