California’s Untold Story
California’s most fascinating hidden secret is finally open to visitors
Approximately 42 million people visit California each year from all over the world, and it’s easy to see why so many come. From the sandy beaches of Southern California to the mountains in the north, The Golden State offers every kind of terrain and climate you could hope for, whether you’re more into tanning, swimming, hiking, or skiing.
But ask any professionals in tourism why people come, and every last one will tell you that it’s all about the stories.
There are many beautiful places in the world, and California is undisputedly among them, but what makes any place truly special is the stories of the cultures attached to that place, and California has always had great stories. From Hollywood to Silicon Valley, from San Francisco to Napa, California has always been about the stories of intrepid adventurers who sought big things from this beautiful land of plenty.
As San Francisco tour guides, as we would drive by Fisherman’s Wharf, Coit Tower, Golden Gate Park, Union Square, The Palace of Fine Arts, Pier 49, and the Painted Ladies, we would tell stories of the great earthquake of 1906, the gold rush of 1849, and The Summer of Love, but there was one untold story hiding just beneath the surface as we passed by the Hearst Building and through the Haight Ashbury.
Until recently the Haight Ashbury held an open secret
As wine country tour guides there was one story we weren’t able to tell as we drove through the Napa and Sonoma Valleys and the Carneros region sharing the stories of the amazing Northern California terroir and the bootleggers who kept making wine despite prohibition making these generational wine makers into criminals.
The terroir of wine country is ideal for all kinds of agriculture
California’s most fascinating story lay just beneath the surface, shrouded in infamy, and only hinted at, or spoken of in whispers.
Then in 2018, California made cannabis for every day adult use legal, and we created a tour company to tell California’s most fascinating story – the story of California cannabis culture.
Cannabis has been with mankind since the very beginning – before we even created a written accounting of our stories. Bowls of bud were found in shamanic tombs dating back thousands of years, and when we did begin written history, cannabis was there in the very first pharmacopoeia over 5,000 years ago in China, but most of the modern history of herb is centered right here in California.
Emperor Shennong, the father of Chinese medicine & agriculture included cannabis in the first pharmacopoeia
California was the first state to outlaw pot cultivationall the way back in 1913. William Randolph Hearst, father of yellow journalism, began his newspaper empire with his very first paper, The San Francisco Examiner, and mounted several attacks on the plant and the people who enjoyed it from the pages of that journal.
When Richard Nixon founded the DEA, one of their main targets was The Haight Ashbury, and it was the hippies that fled from the Haight that started the back to the land movement and founded the legendary Northern California cannabis growing region known as The Emerald Triangle.
The stories and the region were so compelling that we formed a tour company specifically to share those stories, and the unique region and culture that surrounds them with travelers and tourists coming to California from all over the world.
We’ve hosted travelers from every corner of the globe, from true cannasseurs seeking the best boutique sungrown cannabis on the planet, to both seasoned and brand new cannabis growers wanting to learn from the multi-generational wisdom of the growers of The Emerald Triangle, to lots of people who don’t consume cannabis at all, but are completely fascinated by this until now hidden piece of California history and culture, and just need to take a glimpse inside.
A curious guest smells the cannabis flowers on tour of an Emerald Triangle cannabis farm
Like many travelers, you’ve probably been to California before several times, and as you think back of all the trips you’ve taken to The Golden State, you now know that the most fascinating California stories are available to you right now for the first time! You know that this beautiful and mysterious region is now wide open to you, and you have some exciting exploring ahead of you.
So come book your most fascinating California excursion yet with the folks who will show you the best time, and who have some amazing stories to share!
See you soon!