In 2019 while living in our RV we spent some time in California. I saw that we were getting awfully close to the Salinas Valley. My husband, who is a pretty serious John Steinbeck fan, had plenty of options in our Audible account. We picked out Cannery Row and listened as we drove down the streets of Monterrey. I feel like there is something extra special about being in a place when you are listening to great literature about it. After talking to friends about this area we were loving, one recommended we visit the Steinbeck Museum in nearby Salinas, California.
“If a man ordered a beer milkshake he’d better do it in a town where he wasn’t known. – Cannery Row
I have no doubt the Salinas and Pacific Grove that I was seeing in 2019 was quite a bit different from what John Steinbeck saw when he lived here in 1930. For one, I didn’t get a scent of sardine canneries that he may have experienced back in his day. I had to wonder how many of the people walking down the streets were also stopping in here because of Steinbeck’s works so many years ago. Or were they here for the pure beauty of it.
“And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.” – Grapes of Wrath
We love to read in our house, so a museum about an author and celebrating his many works would be a hit with the adults of our home. But the Steinbeck Museum, located in the National Steinbeck Center is not a stuffy old museum. It is a hands-on area to really get to know his stories and the characters he created.
“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about.” – East of Eden
The Steinbeck Museum is perfectly located in the beautiful Salinas, California. As of September, 2023, their hours are Wednesday – Sunday, 10 AM – 5 PM. They are closed on major holidays: New Year’s Eve and Day, Easter, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Eve and Day, Christmas Eve and Day.
The admission to the Steinbeck is:
Adults $15
Active Duty, Retired Military, Teachers, Senior Citizens, Students $13
Children aged 6-17 $7
Children 5 and under Free
From what I can gather from their website you may still be required to wear face masks, so come prepared.
Steinbeck Museum’s address:
1 Main Street
Salinas, CA 93901
“For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more. And this is said in disparagement, whereas it is one of the greatest talents the species has and one that has made it superior to animals that are satisfied with what they have.” – The Pearl
The Museum is a great hands-on peek into so many of his most popular books:
Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, Cannery Row, Of Mice and Men, The Pearl, Tortilla Flat, and (our favorite) Travels With Charley.
Travels with Charley is a book I feel like anyone doing a long road trip should listen to. There are moments you laugh with him, moments you thank goodness technology has changed travel, but the whole time I felt like we were right there along with him in his journey.
“I was born lost and take no pleasure in being found. “ – Travels with Charley
In the Travels with Charley area of the museum you can sit down and type on a typewriter with Rocinante (the actual truck) behind you. If that doesn’t make you feel like a part of Steinbeck’s travels, I don’t know what would.
“I saw in their eyes something I was to see over and over in every part of the nation – a burning desire to go, to move, to get under way, anyplace, away from any Here. They spoke quietly of how they wanted to go someday, to move about, free and unanchored, not toward something but away from something. I saw this look and heard this yearning everywhere in every state I visited. Nearly every American hungers to move.” – Travels with Charley
Visiting the Steinbeck museum is a must see for anyone regardless of where you lie of the Steinbeck fan spectrum. I had not actually finished any of his works until after we had visited. It is also a museum for all ages. It isn’t exactly labeled a children’s museum, but it is one of the best museums I have taken my children to.
I have since read several of his books, and I think that means I just need another visit to the museum to really be able to take it all in.
Also near the museum is Steinbeck’s old residence, but we didn’t get to visit. I would love to hear from you if you get to check it out!
“Once a journey is designed, equipped, and put in process, a new factor entered and takes over. A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find Over years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. Tour masters, schedules, reservations, brass-bound and inevitable, dash themselves to wreckage on the personality of the trip. Only when this is recognized can the blown-in-the class bum relax and go along with it. Only then do the frustrations fall away. In this a journey is like a marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it. ” – Travels With Charley
