California

Last night in Los Angeles, Mo'Nique won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her portrait of a terrifying mother in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire." Meanwhile, in Oakland, Kwanda Hood survived a terrifying mother and became a good mother.

In California, you can say "There are hella stars out tonight." The word "hella" means "a lot". That's why Austin Sendek of the University of California wants it to be the prefix corresponding to the number 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

In Jan Stuermann's photo, an actress poses on the set of an independent film being made in Oakland, California, with "I hella love Oakland" tattooed on her body. What does it mean?

Ever been in a graveyard and couldn't find the grave you were looking for? That won't happen in Fernwood Cemetery in California, because each grave can be located with Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates. All you need is a smartphone.

"Travel" sounds expensive, but it need not involve going to strange places or spending a lot of money. And that's why we're ending our travel year with Danny MacAskill cycling around Edinburgh to the soundtrack of a group called Band of Horses.

Take a drive down Highway 1 with Birgit and Richard Roberts, and enjoy the best road trip in the United States. California is a state of redwood forests, music festivals, hillside vineyards, romantic restaurants, perfect beaches, natural parks and sunshine.

Dopy, Lo, and Piss-Mouth are homeless youth who live on the streets of Berkeley, California, near San Francisco. They and their friends see their lifestyle as a choice of freedom over security. Each has lived on the streets for more than eight years.

It's $15 for a ticket to see the Richard Avedon exhibition, but many of the best things about San Francisco are free: natural beauty, festivals, good conversation. Other good things are almost free: the N Judah metro line that goes all the way to the beach and the "happy hour" in Mission District bars.