2011 Friday -- The Steinbeck Festival

We discovered yesterday that the Steinbeck Festival was starting in Salinas (the city just to the east of Monterey), so we checked out of our room this morning and drove east to Salinas.
We ate breakfast there in the historic downtown.

We are "lifetime members" of the Steinbeck Center so we were granted admission and even though we didn't want to take the time to participate with all the lectures and events scheduled for the festival, we did walk through the museum and enjoyed the many displays.

We both have thoroughly enjoyed  Steinbeck's books and have enjoyed learning about his history in Salinas and Monterey, and Mr. Fun especially has enjoyed Travels with Charley. So stopping by the display of Steinbeck's camper truck, Rosinante, was a high-light of our day. Surely taking a journey like that is on Mr. Fun's "Bucket List." After a sufficent amount of time at the Steinbeck Center, we made a quick stop at the home where John Steinbeck grew-up, and then we headed south on Highway 101.

This evening we are in Morro Bay, which is slightly west of San Luis Obispo. This is where we had originally planned to spend all of our vacation days -- exploring and wandering, but after spending the night this past Tuesday evening in San Simeon, we just found ourselves wandering north on Highway #1, so today we came back to where we started. If we sound a little lost -- we sort of are -- but it is on purpose. Sometimes we have to lose ourselves to find ourselves. If that doesn't make any sense, don't worry. Sometimes life doesn't make any sense.

We are continuing, though, to build our summer soundtrack. We are having a blast doing so. Meanwhile, no one knows where we are  (except you) and we still think no one cares (except maybe our 3 pooches, who care very much about getting freed from the kennel and back to home). We don't plan to return home for a few more days. We're down the rabbit hole and like Alice, we're learning a few things.

Good night from Central California.
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol

P.S. This really is better viewed in "large" -- just tap the magnifying glass on the toolbar at the bottom of the photo.