Californian native here. We are a Western state. The coast of California is longer than the coast of Oregon and Washington combined. That means we are primarily Southwestern, yes, but we reach well into the Northwest. Just check out a map of the west coast.

California coastline is 840 mi, Oregon 296 mi, and Washington 157 mi..

California is so long, is has more coastline than Hawaii (750 mi), Northern California's environment is vastly different from Southern California's, and if you take the I-5 (the ugliest and most boring, but fastest route) it takes about 12 hours from top to bottom if you avoid rush hour and holidays in LA, OC, and SD and rarely stop for gas or to pee.