San Francisco was built by "forty niners" with gold fever, founded in 1776 when father Junipero Serra constructed the mission San Dolores to Christianize the local native Indian population. At the same time, Spanish troops constructed a Presidio, or fort, to protect this colony for the Queen of Spain. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the village of Yerba Buena, consisting of whalers, traders, adventurers and pirates, occupied the present site of San Francisco. In 1848, gold was discovered in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains about 100 miles to the east. By 1849, San Francisco was inundated with "forty-niners" as the gold seekers were commonly called, and the population of the city exploded. Ever since, it has remained the center of commerce, entertainment, culture and tourism for Northern California.

San Francisco is on the coast of California about 400 miles north of Los Angeles. It is situated along the shore of a large bay sheltered behind the California Coastal Mountains. The city is renown for its steep streets with panoramic views of beautiful San Francisco bay and the surrounding mountains. It has a very moderate climate with warm summers and chilly winters but without extremes. Constant breezes off of the Pacific Ocean keep the summers from becoming too hot and also prevent freezing winter weather. Take a sweater, as the evening breezes can be quite brisk all year round !

Local Travel Agent(s):
	Airbound, Inc
	Address: 12 Geary Street Suite 506, San Francisco, California 94108 United States of America Phone: +1 415 834 9445, Fax: +1 415 834 9447
	Airtreks
	Address: 442 Post St San Francisco CA 94102 United States of America Phone: +1 415 365 1611, Fax: +1 415 912 5606
	Travelcraft BTI
	Address: 47 Tamal Vista Blvd. Corte Madera CA 94925 United States of America Phone: +1 415 924 5570
	Travelfast
	Address: 1044 Geneva Avenue San Francisco California 94112-3820 United States of America Phone: +1 415 585 4010, Fax: +1 415 585 4010
	Campus Travel, INC.
	Address: 441-447 Irving St., San Francisco California 94122-2511 United States of America Phone: +1 415 753 1400, Fax: +1 415 566 6280