John Steinbeck's Hometown

Cannery Row and Tortilla Flats are two of Steinbeck's better known novels. As we poked around the cities of Monterey and Salinas, California, we learned that those two communities were the back drop for those stories. And Steinbeck lived in that area. We had dinner twice on Cannery Row, and explored Salinas.
Cannery Row is not in the business of canning squid or anchovies anymore, it's all art galleries, restaurants, and tourist shops. It's where I FINALLY got to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. It was soooo cute. While we waited for our food, the waitress did Forrest Gump trivia with us.
"How many Dr. Peppers did Forrest have at the White House?"

"What town was Forrest from?"

"What did Mama compare life to?"

Duh, too easy.

The seaside of Cannery Row has the buildings on stilts, hanging out into the ocean. So the view is phenomenal.



And the row of shops on the inside of the street are adorable:



In Salinas, there's a Steinbeck center which is like a museum but also a community center that has educational programs. We didn't make it over there, we spent so much time exploring everywhere else. Maybe next year...