The Escrow Period is the time between an accepted offer and closing.
During the escrow period, your are "In Escrow", using an escrow company as an integral part of the closing process. 
California Escrow periods are like pregnancy Due Dates; they are often delayed due to the many different people & variables involved. Buyers, make sure to get anything requested by your lender to them ASAP. Any delay can extend the closing date and result in unhappy consequences.

~ Buyer's or Seller's agent opens escrow with an escrow company.
~Seller's agent changes MLS status to "Pending" or "Under Contract".       "Under Contract" status keeps property on public MLS.
~Buyer submits "Earnest Money Deposit" (EMD) to escrow within 3 days of offer acceptance.
~Escrow deposits it into a trust account.
~Buyer chooses inspector and schedules home inspection (usually has 17 days to inspect property & be satisfied with condition before removing inspection contingency)
~Lender/loan officer works on getting "loan conditions" met. (May include more pay stubs, bank statements, etc. from buyer, statements from escrow, title reports, appraisal report, etc.-could be anything. Some loans have lots of conditions & others have few)
~Listing agent sends disclosures signed by sellers to Buyer's agent to get signed by buyers & returned (time periods apply).
~Escrow sends out escrow instructions & some other paperwork for buyer & seller to sign. This clarifies the contract & authorizes escrow to do their job in ordering loan payoff statements, title reports, etc. Lender orders appraisal through an AMC (independent appraisal management company).
~Buyer scheduled Home inspection takes place. Buyers may attend the inspection or not, depending on circumstances. It usually takes a couple of hours for the inspector to do their job. Then, if any of the parties are there, he/she may give a summary of the findings. The inspector will then send out the written report within 24 hours to buyers and buyer's agent. Then buyer's agent & buyer go over inspection & request repairs-if any-from seller.

~Appraiser goes to property and does appraisal (time frame/week depends on appraiser & lender's schedule decisions & property availability). Note: Appraisers are not home inspectors, though they may make the appraisal contingent on certain repairs.
~Escrow is busy ordering demands, getting additional info from buyers/sellers, etc.
~Preliminary Title Report arrives & must be reviewed by all parties & signed off (time frame varies)
~Any requests or questions resulting from the home inspection are addressed & resolved.
~Contingencies for property condition, disclosures and/or appraisal, are removed in writing by buyers.
~Buyer shops for and selects Homeowner's Insurance and lets escrow and lender know what company they'll be using so escrow can coordinate payment.
~Appraisal received by lender.

~Buyer lets escrow know how they would like to hold title. Information on this here.
~Lender should have appraisal & title report as well as other conditions met and submit for final loan approval (ALL loans are contingent on appraisal & preliminary title report)

~If you haven't let escrow know how you'd like to receive any funds due to you from the sale, now would be an excellent time to give them a call. ~You can have the funds wired directly to your bank account.
~Lender submits for final Loan approval. Once loan is approved, loan officer orders "loan docs". They usually arrive at escrow by email the next day unless lender is "backed up" (remember escrow date is like a "due date"?)
~Buyer signs docs and submits funds to close. This usually happens anywhere within 1-5 days before "close of escrow" (again-"due date"). It is mainly controlled by specific lender policies & escrow appointment availability.
~Docs are signed in escrow, at loan officer's office or a traveling notary goes to buyer.
~Once signed, the docs are sent back to the lender for review. Review takes 1+ days depending on lender. (Don't forget..."Due date")
~Once signed docs are reviewed and approved, loan funding takes place. Escrow officer will usually contact agents when funding has taken place (no, not quite closed yet...almost).
~After funding, escrow officer will set up sale to record at county recorder's office same day or next day.
~Though recording usually takes place in the morning, "notice of recording" is received by escrow from anywhere between 12noon-6pm. ~Escrow contacts agents that "We have recording" At this time, the sale is considered "closed" and escrow begins the process of "dispersing funds". ~Your agent will contact you to say "congratulations" and discuss getting you your keys.
~Listing agent will change status in MLS to "Sold/Closed Sale".

This is the general time frame and procedure of most escrows. There are activities by various parties that aren't mentioned here, and most experienced Realtors will tell you that no 2 escrows are exactly alike. That being the case, I can't guarantee that your escrow will follow this scenario. This is provided to give you a general picture of the process, but I can not offer any guarantees as to it's accuracy in your particular situation.