California
Lodi -- We live in Lodi, California. Lodi is located South of Sacramento, East of San Francisco and West of the Sierra Nevada in the Great San Joaquin Valley. San Joaquin Valley grows every imaginable crop. We feed the nation, in a sense. In the summer when there is no rain we are cooled by the Delta Breeze that blows off the inland delta. The delta eventually empties into the San Francisco Bay and that is the only exit to the sea for all of the rivers flowing west from the Sierra Nevada, flowing south from the Siskiyou Mountains.
Redlands -- 1.. Where do you live (give city, state/province, country, continent)? Redlands, CA, USA, North America
2.. What interesting places are there to see near you? Joshua Tree National Forest, Palm Springs, Big Bear, Lake Arrowhead, Salton Sea, Mt. Baldy, San Gorgonio, San Jacinto and San Bernardino Mt. ranges, Roy Rogers Museum, Lincoln Shrine, Ramona Pageant, Redlands Bowl Summer Music Series
3.. What is the climate like where you live? (example: average rainfall, temperatures,
variations in weather) Temperature ranges from 30's in winter (mostly at night) to over
100 degrees in the summer; too much smog in the summer, gorgeous when the smog is gone.
Not too much rain.
4.. What is the land like where you live? (example: mountains, plains, etc.)
Valley surrounded by afore mentioned mountain ranges.
5.. Are there any interesting plants or animals in your area? If so, please tell me
about them. Well, Redlands has raccoons, skunks, coyotes and opossums. In the
hills and mountains there are mountain lions, bears. Many different birds. I've seen scrub
jays, house sparrows, yellow-rumped warblers, mockingbirds, crows, cedar wax wings,
western tanagers, and hummingbirds. Oh yes, and there is a resident flock of wild parrots!
6.. What items (foods, hi-tech, manufactured items, etc.) are produced in your area?
Hmm . . . There's a Hershey's factory, loads of citrus and avocados, steel
manufacturers in Fontana.
7.. What natural resources are found in your area? Don't know.
8.. Anything else you think might be of interest. Redlands has a true "town"
flavor, it's not just urban sprawl like so much of Southern California.
Calistoga -- 1. I live in Calistoga, California, USA, North America.
2. The area I live in is a beautiful one, with agricultural lands, forests, lakes, parks and low hills. The county is Napa County, which is a world-famous wine region: growing grapes, processing them into wine, then storing the wine and shipping it all over the world. For this reason, we have many beautiful wineries, looking like castles, both in the middle of the vineyards and on the forested hills. The wineries are beautifully landscaped and are very picturesque. There are other interesting things to see, both in the county and near to it. We are about 30 miles from San Francisco, which is, of course, a tourist center known to all. We have a park with campgrounds, many beautiful hiking trails, a large lake with recreational resources, such as fishing, camping, swimming, etc. The small town where I live has several hot springs and geysers, which are visited by tourists.
3. This area has some periods of heavy rainfall in the winter, with occasional flooding. The summers, late spring, and early autumn are mostly dry, with little to no rainfall. The climate ranges from below freezing on winter nights to over 100 degrees on hot summer days. The weather here is delightful, and many retired persons come here to live.
4. Most of our flatlands are used for growing grapes; however, we have beautiful gardens and some orchards. Cattle graze on the hills, and there are many migratory birds.
5. We have some mountain lions in our hills, though they are seldom seen (I have never seen one). We have ducks, geese, herons and egrets in great numbers, which visit our lakes and ponds as they pass through in their migration. There were bears in the hills before, but they have mostly moved farther back into the mountains, The tallest redwood trees are to the north in our state, but we do have some growing here, and they are beautiful and stately. The California poppy grows here in abundance, in meadows and beside the road, and trillium, foxglove, wild oats, and many other wildflowers make our hills quite lovely in the spring.
6. As listed before, mostly wine is produced in this area, but we have some light manufacturing, equipment for boars, electronic items, etc. We have quite a number of computer firms here also.
7. Water is our most important natural resource. At one time, there were cinnabar (mercury) mines in the hills, but there are none at this time. The famous gold-mining country is just to the north of us and at one time there was some gold-mining in our area. We have a great deal of timber growing in our hills and mountains, but there is not much of a timber industry here, since the trees are valued for their tourist attraction.
8. We have two colleges in this county - in Napa, a small, two-year community college, and
in Angwin, a four-year college, Pacific Union College. We also have the Culinary
Institute of America, which teaches people to be world-class chefs, who work in some of
the world's most famous restaurants.