We began Saturday at my associate's boyhood home, where his parents still live. John Stienbeck said "Not everyone has the good fortune to be born in Salinas," but my associate was indeed fortunate. This is the lovely home we were staying in, our intrepid vehicle parked in front.
The Salinas Valley is defined in part, obviously, by hills. I learned that these aren't hills you want to attempt running directly up.
People who know Salinas know that it is known for its produce. The statistic, as I remember it told me, is that about two-thirds of all produce in the United States is grown in the Salinas Valley. That includes 80% of all iceberg lettuce.
To honor the produce and the people who produce it, a local artist erected some board cut-outs of people who are, so to speak, outstanding in their field.
Lest you think these farmers really aren't all that big, here are some others from further away:
California in general is known as a place where cars can run for a long time, and therefore you tend to see a few classics out on the road.
We took a moment to cruise our not-so-classic car through the area's quasi-historic downtown.
We rode past the Transit Center, which my associate pointed out is the general area where they release convicts after they complete their sentences.
Handily, the probation car is nearby, ironically contained behind steel bars.
And then we made it to the place dedicated for the other thing Salinas is known for, author John Steinbeck. This is the National Steinbeck Center:
Inside there is an image of the man himself:
Then there are exhibits about his writings, with histories and appropriate artifacts to go with them. I enjoyed reading about his screenplay for "Viva Zapata!"
This "Steinbeck Crossword" was thrown in for reasons not entirely explained. (If you need to see the version with the answers, please let me know.)
Especially appropriate for us was the exhibit on "Travels with Charley," the tale written of his automobile journey across the USA. Parts of our route overlapped with his, of course we were traveling faster and only going one way.
Unfortunately, we also didn't have a cool camper like this to travel in:
The Steinbeck Center was not all Steinbeck, there were some offbeat exhibits in there as well, such as one of posters for rock shows, usually from San Fransisco, often of bands I've never heard of with several more famous ones mixed in.
There's even space in the Center for the local rabble-rousers to congregate.
The other whole wing of the Center is occupied by the agriculture center, where I learned of things such as sacks of small white beans.
We saw the the first interactive exhibit I've ever seen to make use of a slide rule, outside the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
We learned about how goods get delivered.
We also learned about packaging from the Artichoke Queen herself, Marilyn Monroe.
Despite how much fun it looked, and how much we had learned, we did not play The Produce Game. More accurately, we did not play because of how much not fun it looked.
On our way through town we hit some of the other Steinbeck sites, including the Steinbeck House, now a restaurant that serves an afternoon tea that we were too late for, and the Steinbeck Library, which features a less-than-life-size statue of the man. Apparently Steinbeck was not liked by some in the community because of the way he aired some families' dirty laundry in his books. A less-than-life-size statue was, I guess, a compromise.
On our way back through, we saw many local businesses, including this one, billed as the Home of the Super Burrito. There is actually supposed to be more words after "Life Without Mexican," but I think it stands fairly interestingly on its own.
Of course, since we were in northern California, we had to browse some wines.
And on our way back home, we spotted some landmarks, including this coffee shop with what I thought was a very California-esque sign (probably bigger than the tiny coffee stand, itself):
And of course, the Wienerschnitzel:
And that was Salinas in a day. Only one day left on the West Coast for me, and we would expand our horizons a little bit.
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