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County in California, United States
Photo: Keavon Chambers, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons
Kern County is in San Joaquin Valley, California. This huge county extends across a number of geographic regions in California: The majority western portion is in the San Joaquin Valley, the northeastern portion is in the Sierra Nevada mountains, the southeastern part is in the Desert, and the southwest goes into the Antelope Valley.
The primary north-south route through the county is Interstate 5, which travels up the western side of the Central Valley between Los Angeles and Sacramento.
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Bakersfield · Regional · BFL
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Nicknamed "the country music capital of the West Coast", Bakersfield is the largest city in the southern San Joaquin Valley and is thus the best option for those seeking lodging, transportation, or other services.
This town offers lodging options and services and is home to the Buttonwillow Tree, a state landmark that gave the town its name.
Delano was a major center in the push for farmworker's rights, and includes a federally-landmarked complex that was the first headquarters for Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers organization.
This town will be of most interest to travelers on I-5 who need fuel, food or other services.
This oil & agriculture town was the site of one of the largest oil spills in history when the Lakeview Gusher unleashed nine million barrels of oil onto the surrounding countryside.
McFarland is a small farming community that may be best known for the high school cross-country team that inspired the 2015 movie McFarland, USA.
An oil & gas town on Highway 33 that is home to the McKittrick Brea Pit, a tar pit that was the site of a huge cache of prehistoric fossils.
An oil town that offers food, gas, and lodging services. Taft is also home to the West Kern Oil Museum and a replica of Sutter's fort that was built in 1940 as a Depression-era project.
Wasco is known as the city of roses, with 55% of all roses grown in the USA grown in and around Wasco. Its annual spring Rose Festival attracts visitors from all over southern California.
The Grapevine is a corridor along I-5 that is home to the outlets at Tejon, several small mountain communities (Gorman, Lebec, Fort Tejon, Frazier Park) and a slew of traveler-focused restaurants and hotels for the thousands of cars traveling on I-5.
Keene is home to the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, which contains the headquarters and grave site of the famous labor leader. Another attraction is the Tehachapi Loop, which is just outside of town and was built to get trains over the Tehachapi Pass. It is a favorite of railroad fans around the world since the engineering wonder is one of the few places where a train can be seen passing over itself.
Tehachapi is home to a massive wind farm.
Kernville is a city in the southern Sierra Nevada.
Inyokern is a town in Kern County, California.
Mojave is a hotbed of aerospace activity, with the Mojave Spaceport the headquarters of Scaled Composites, the first private company to launch a human into space. Edwards Air Force base, a landing site for the space shuttle and a center for the development of experimental aircraft, is next to the town.
Ridgecrest is a desert town that is adjacent to China Lake Naval Weapons Station. Many visitors pass through this area on the way to Death Valley or sites further north along the Eastern Sierra.
Rosamond is primarily a bedroom community in the desert of the Antelope Valley, although it does have food and lodging options for tourists, and is home to a non-profit center dedicated to feline protection where visitors can see cats ranging in size from the tiny fishing cat up to the Siberian tiger.
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