California is built on drama. There is nothing subtle about this place, and there never was. Our landscape is the result of a hundred million years of violent plate tectonics, lava flows, ancient glaciers, and the kind of patience only Mother Earth knows. What burst forth from the combining of these dramatic forces is unlike anyplace else on Earth, rich with the best the planet has to offer: mountains, coastlines, canyons, valleys, plains, deserts, burritos.

We’re home to the largest and oldest trees in the world and the highest and lowest points in the contiguous US (within 80 miles of each other, no less. Drama). Truly, California is the main character.

Today, California is America with the volume turned up. No other state matches our energy, cultural contributions, or natural beauty. We’re home to a global entertainment industry, a global tech industry, and an economy that nearly every country envies, as well as some of the most stunning landscapes not just in the US, but anywhere.

Sure, it’s loud and it’s crowded here, but California, both as a place and as an idea, is simply unrivaled. It’s why so many people want to come to visit and to live.

So, dip us in gold and call us superfans. We love it here, which is why we’re deliriously happy to bring you our first-ever California issue. With this issue, we wanted to delve into some of what’s happening outside our county lines and offer our readers a feeling of connection to a larger community of people who call California home. There’s so much to explore.

In these pages, we’re looking at our state at large (while staying anchored in SD, of course). First, we’re going surfing with women in Santa Barbara who picked up the sport later in life, then, we’re looking at a California crisis: Birth centers are closing due to regulatory red tape, leaving parents-to-be—especially low-income and minority mothers—with few options for where they can give birth.

We’re also climbing to the tops of California’s iconic palm trees and learning about a scientist’s mission to save them from being eaten alive, talking to the new lead singer of a truly quintessential SoCal band, traveling to a town determined to preserve its stargazing, taking a trip to Channel Islands National Park, and stepping inside an improbable opera house in the desert.

Plus, we’ve got a massive, stunning visual smorgasbord of some of California’s most underrated destinations. Get your bucket list out—you’re going to want to make some additions. And I hope you’re hungry, because we’re also hitting the hottest new restaurant in Hillcrest and shouting out some of our favorite food finds this month around SD. This magazine is packed like a California rush-hour freeway.

We had fun putting this together for you, and we hope you enjoy exploring our golden state with us. We’re lucky to call this place home.