California’s picturesque villages and small towns and its stunning landscape, from rugged sierras and fog-laced headlands to golden sand beaches and rolling oak-studded ranchland.California is nicknamed “The Golden State,” and though the name applies literally to the color of its state flower, the golden poppy, it is also a metaphor for the hopes and dreams that have lured generations of settlers. There are villages that grew up around the famed Spanish mission trail, and (more…)