Sunday - August 4 - Monterey & Salinas

Sunday was a big day!  No WELS church that we could find in the area.  We opted to listen to Time of Grace with Pastor Jeske online - we did that right before bed.

Sunday morning we went to the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas.

 Salinas is an interesting place - I did not realize it was such an important agricultural center. Much of the produce we eat and that is eaten around the world is grown here - celery, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic and much more.  Del Monte is a big name in the area. Joyce wanted a photo of this unusual variety.

So much to read and see in the Steinbeck Center. Kindled my interest in reading East of Eden.

Found the chronology of his writing very interesting. He was fascinated with King Arthur and spent 6 months in England. He was always writing and felt the writer had a certain ethical responsibility to point people to truth. Also interesting that after he received his Nobel Prize that he gave up writing fiction.

One of my favorite displays -- from Of Mice and Men...

From sophomore literature - Kino's pearl!

 

I used to really enjoy teaching his The Moon is Down - maybe that should become a summer HE reading book.

I liked the Travels with Charley display & his furnished pickup camper.

From there we walked a couple blocks to the Steinbeck home for a tour. 

They only offer these once a month during the year - so it was really neat that we could time things to make this work. The house is original, but today it is a restaurant. On the wall here are photos of his grandparents. It is interesting that his grandfather was a Lutheran missionary and ended up marrying his wife (Steinbeck's grandma) in Jerusalem!

 Obviously the house is fixed up from what it was when the Steinbeck family lived there, but the volunteer docents giving the tour really worked hard to emphasize the family's middle class roots. After seeing the house, I am thinking they were definitely upper middle class.  The size of the house, the guest quarters, the servant quarters, the stained glass cupola at the top of the house and John being given his own "red pony" as  a child make me think this was more than your average middle class family.

After the Steinbeck House, we met Joyce's Uncle Wayne who gave us a great tour of the area. He showed us Monterey, Cannery Row...

Carmel...

and took us on the exclusive 17-Mile Drive which finishes up with a view of Pebble Beach. 

 What some amazing properties! I loved the wind-swept trees by the golf courses.

We also visited the "most photographed tree in the world"!

 He also treated us to dinner at Fisherman's Wharf. 

 That was a real treat.  Joyce ate sand dabs -- those are fish.  We had a beautiful view of the bay.  Saw otters, sea lions, a glass-bottom boat, pelicans, and much more.

 

The Glass Bottom Boat photos are for Cassie & Christi - rumor has it that Doris Day lives in Monterey.

Uncle Wayne topped everything off by treating us to Baskin-Robbins!

THANK YOU, Uncle Wayne -- what some great memories!

Love to all!
D