Boasting year-round warm weather, beach days and some of the most-visited attractions in the country, California makes for a great place to embark on a travel nursing job. While the Golden State is one of the most sought-after locations among Americans – still denoting the American Dream to many – there are some fun facts you likely didn't know about this impressive state.
1. The Hollywood sign originally read "Hollywoodland."
2. There are more songs written about California than other state in the country.
3. The name California derives from a mythical Spanish island ruled by a queen called Califia who was featured in a Spanish romance called "Las Serges de Esplandian." The first Spanish explorers believed California to be an island.
3. According U.S. News & World Report, the highest-paid nursing positions are in the metropolitan areas of northern California, including Vallejo, San Jose and Oakland.
4. The state song is "I Love You, California."
5. At 14,495 feet, Mount Whitney measures as the highest peak in the lower 48 states. Dedicated travel nursing professionals can make its famous climb.
6. The redwood trees, found in the national and state parks, are the largest and tallest trees in the world. They can live to be thousands of years old.
7. The state animal is the grizzly bear, which adorns the California flag.
8. California was the 31st state in the U.S.; it was admitted in 1850.
9. In the late 1850s, Kennedy Mine, the deepest mine in North America, was one of the world's richest gold mines.
10. In 1892, oil was discovered close to what is now Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Thirty years later, L.A. produced one-quarter of the world's oil.
11. San Francisco Bay is the globe's largest landlocked harbor.
12. Beverly Hills started out as a lima bean ranch.
13. The Tehama County Fairgrounds in Red Bluff host the largest three-day rodeo in the U.S.
14. The Hollywood Bowl is the world's largest outdoor amphitheater.
15. Dozens of stars are buried in Hollywood's Forever Cemetery, including Looney Tunes voice actor Mel Blanc, whose gravestone says, "That's all folks."
16. Disneyland welcomes about 16 million visitors a year. The theme park's monorail was the first daily operating monorail in the Western Hemisphere.
17. The Country Store in Baker has sold more winning California State Lottery tickets than any outlet in the state. Feeling lucky?
18. The first motion picture theater opened in L.A. on April 2, 1902.