Day Trip - National Steinbeck Museum and the Pinnacles National Park

A couple of days ago my sister and I were talking about how we were both feeling "blue". Not the word either of us necessarily used but a word that captures our mood. We had a friend who was arrested on an attempted murder charge, a member of my running club who was only 71 passed away after a brief illness and when I contacted another friend about a potential future road trip he mentioned that he was waiting for information from future medical appointments before he could make plans. So while it wasn't any one thing, it was a series of incidents that led to the "blues". I decided that I was going to take a day trip to get away and see some new things. As I have written many times in past blog posts I enjoy travel whether it is a day trip or a longer trip and I find travel to be a good way to get out of a funk or at least ease the funk temporarily.

I can honestly say that while none of the previous mentioned circumstances have changed. A change in my environment and routine was helpful. I had been thinking for a while about driving to Salinas, California in order to visit the National Steinbeck Center. I have been doing a lot of reading about and by Steinbeck since my last trip to Colorado when I reread Travels With Charley. I am tentatively planning a future post about the reading both by and about Steinbeck.

Because I knew that I would be driving a couple of hours to Salinas and I figured that I wouldn't spend more than a couple of hours there I decided to check the map and see what else I might like to visit and I came up with Pinnacles National Park. A place that I wasn't aware was located so close to where I live.

I left early because I knew that I wanted to stop as Casa de Fruita for a BLT. When Joe and I ate there two years ago on our way to Santa Cruz we couldn't believe how good the bacon was. It still is. And the coffee is outstanding!

When I arrived in Salinas I had 30 minutes to walk around the old downtown area while waiting for the Museum to open. I checked online and found a used bookstore about five blocks away. It wasn't open yet either but I knew that I would go back to it after my museum visit. I did and actually bought a Steinbeck novel, The Wayward Bus. While I have read almost everything written by Steinbeck I don't think I've read this one. Old Downtown Salinas was a very interesting area.

STEINBECK MUSEUM

The Steinbeck Center was interesting and worth the drive and the entrance fee. I think I enjoyed it more because as I've said before that I have read almost all of Steinbeck's writings and am in the process of reading others now. Additionally I have read several authors accounts of their own trips based partially upon Steinbeck's, Travels With Charley. As expected though it didn't take more than a couple of hours to see everything. I left the museum and walked west two blocks to see Steinbeck's boyhood home.

After leaving Salinas I drove to Soledad and from there to The Pinnacles National Park. I was surprised to learn that The Pinnacles didn't become a National Park until 2013. Prior to that it had been designated as a National Monument. It was interesting to drive in from the western side and find this unique geological area in the middle of nowhere. There is no road through the park so I hope to someday make a return trip and go in from the eastern entrance.

I drove to the day use area, parked and hiked some of the trails. I took a lot of pictures because it is definitely one of those places that you have to see to believe. The park is a popular rock climbing location and you can see from the pictures why that is the case. One of the fascinating features was a talus cave. This isn't an actual cave but a unique feature that is created by water washing out smaller rocks and soil and leaving huge boulders that have voids between them making it possible to walk under them in many places. I went into one "cave" and decided to turn around when I reached the point where I would have to get down and crawl under. It was eerie because the if these rocks are there as a result of movement caused partially by earthquakes and earthquakes are not uncommon in the area, I didn't want to be crawling under a rock that decides to move.

It was a good day that wasn't complete until a return trip to Casa de Fruita on the way home for some of their incredible fruit pies.

Earlier this week I ran to the river where I did some kayaking last summer and actually flipped twice in some very minor rapid water. The pictures below are of the same place where I kayaked and flipped. This is a very graphic example of the drought that we are going through here in California. This was all water last year.