Too many things in CA, it is like a bag of jellybeans. This is what I think.
Northmost under Oregon cities (the next biggest place), Mount Shasta and the lake are pure nature away from society. Redding has a lot of mountain air since it's away from congestion of the bigger CA cities. I also seen a lot of old western buildings still hanging out there, reminds me of the Gold Rush. Lots of jet ski, camping, mountain biking and outdoor events.
As we go south, Sacramento has history, more inlands and a mix.. If SF and LA mixed then I would say that's how Sac is like. San Jose is kinda similar to Sacramento.
San Francisco is the Californian version of New York/Boston, everyone's probably visited SF. Lots of sports teams, LA is SF's rival.
I like the southern-coastal region along SF. Half moon bay, Monterey, Santa Cruz are all nature and wildlife-influenced cities.
To the central, we have lots of cities with Hispanic roots in the Central Valley.
Fresno county is the Californian version of what some of east US is like - upstate NY, PA, VA, TN farmlands without the mountains (the grounds are all flat). It's actually somewhat easier to picture it like a LA version of Kansas or Amarillo in Texas, whichever seems more familiar.
If you want nature: Yosemite, Kings, Sequoias are all just a short distance from Fresno, it's the closest city to the big 3 national parks.
Then, going down south from Central, there's not much until you get to
Bakersfield which is a growing region, but
it can get pretty boring there... It's mostly desert land that has been modernized to accommodate to interstate businesses and small time operations.
Now over to the real south California.
Santa Barbara is like the middle class version of Malibu. If you want an easy-going life with social stuff, move to SB.
After that, the whole region is LA county. Not too many major tourist-friendly attractions outside of Hollywood area. LA county is made mostly business-oriented in mind. Lots of choices of food because of the cultures. The ports and museums can be a few days of fun. There are some mini-Monterey areas at Palos Verde, but aside from that it's just one giant city complex until you get past Irvine/Newport Beach and into Mission Viejo-San Juan Capistrano area. Lots of history and old style buildings in Mission Viejo/SJC.
Riverside, San Bernardino and the Rancho Cucamonga area can be really noticed for the California housing boom, you will see a lot of new housing that was built within the past ~10+ years here. To me it's mostly a residential suburb out of LA, closer to the desert cacti that wild westerners favor.
After that, it's San Diego. San Diego has a lot of the historical part of SJC, it is like if you added So.Cal beaches and Mission Viejo together, you got San Diego.
Then, it's Mexico. If you go past Tijuana, you might disappear.
Of course, I grew up there since birth to a young adult.
