Visalia is a city situated in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California, approximately 230 miles (370 km) southeast of San Francisco, 190 miles (310 km) north of Los Angeles, and 36 miles (58 km) west of Sequoia National Park. The population was 124,442 at the 2010 census.

Settled in 1852, Visalia is the oldest inhabited inland European settlement between Stockton and Los Angeles. It is the 5th largest city in the San Joaquin Valley after Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton and Modesto, the 44th most populous in California, and 198th in the United States.

As the county seat of Tulare County, Visalia serves as the economic and governmental center to one of the most productive single agricultural counties in the country.

Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks are located in the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains, the highest mountain range in the contiguous United States. The summit of Mount Whitney, 14,505 feet (4,421 m), is on the border between Tulare and Inyo counties. The western slopes of the Sierra are also home to the ancient Giant Sequoia, some of the largest living single organisms on Earth.

See Wikipedia for more information about this fascinating city.