After Pinnacles we headed to Salinas, where we had agreed to house sit for a week. Actually, we had agreed to house sit AND cat sit, but sadly the elderly cat decided the week before to stop eating. Her mom brought her to the vet who told her it was time to say goodbye. The cat was 16 years old and had a long, beautiful life as the companion to two lovely people. I am sorry for their loss but I am happy it happened on the cat’s terms and that the owner was with her at the end. But that left us without a pet to sit. However, these lovely people had extensive gardens that needed daily tending, so there was still work to do. The fruit and vegetables were easy for me, and the patio potted plants likewise were familiar territory. The cactus and succulents needed nothing but an eyeball. However, these nice folks have a rose addiction, and throughout their double plot they have somewhere around 50 different rose bushes. It smelled amazing. Every day I watered plants, then donned the thick gloves and trimmed / deadheaded as needed. It was enjoyable and meditative work.

Salinas was one of those places that we chose because it was on the way to our next destinations and for its proximity to other interesting things we were hoping to see in the greater Central Coast area. Mostly our time there was concentrated on work and the day to day living and chores that go into keeping all our plates spinning: bill paying, grocery shopping, food prep, swimming and working out at the local gym. But we did manage to carve out two afternoons to play. First we headed over to the Pacific Coast Highway and drove that iconic stretch of road all the way down to Big Sur. We caught the sunset from the beach, and, really there’s nothing finer. The next afternoon we scurried over to the Monterey Aquarium where we saw plainly why is is so famous and loved.

While we didn’t get a deep or long look at Salinas, it seems a lovely community with a lot to recommend it. It has a ton of amenities and it has a great YMCA. There are countless big swaths of farmland. The kind of farmland that makes Salinas “The salad bowl of America.” Its climate is ideal for fruits like strawberries and grapes, vegetables like lettuce and artichokes, and flowers upon flowers upon flowers. Its lush and gorgeous. It also happens to have as its favorite son, John Steinbeck. Perhaps one of the most visually noticable thing about Salinas is the prolific number of larger-than-life, cut-out paintings of citizens and symbols of this town by the artist, John Cerney. You can get a feel for what I’m referring to here.

Then before we knew it, it was time to pack the van again. This time we are heading for a weekend camping and hiking at a place that’s been on my wish list since we first started dreaming about our empty nest wanderings. To get there we drive out of the green lush farmlands through the undulating straw yellow hills of waving grasses, dotted with cows and wind turbines.