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Steinbeck’s Country

I love John Steinbeck. I love his books, I love his characters, I love his writing style, I love everything about him. Northern California plays a major part in several of his novels including my all time favorite East of Eden. Steinbeck talks about the rolling green hills and fertile valleys around Salinas and he made Monterey’s Cannery Row famous in his book with the same title. As Adam & I drove from San Francisco to Monterey (about 2 hours) we went through the center of San Fran, through the heart of Silicon Valley and finally into the more rural farm country of Nor Cal. It was beautiful! Granted, it would have been more beautiful if the rain & clouds had let up for a minute, but I have to admit I was a kind of enchanted by the scenery. As we got closer to the coast, a million little farms popped up and huge signs notifying passers-by that this town is the Garlic Capital of the World, and that town is the Artichoke Capital of the World. We passed fields and fields of artichokes, strawberries and cherries and, I assume, garlic. By the way – did you know artichokes grow on ferny-looking bushes? I guess I kind of always thought they grew sort of like cabbages and you’d hack them off with a machete or something….learn something new every day! Ok, so I realize this may sound cheesy or something – but I am completely in love with this area of the country. I am trying to decide what Steinbeck book to read next to get lost in his descriptions of Monterey, Salinas and the farm country of California.

NEXT POST: Monterey, CA

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