Steinbeck, Miller, and Dennis the Menace

My trip to California had a literary twist, which linked John Steinbeck, Henry Miller, and Dennis the Menace. I'll start with Steinbeck, who grew up in Salinas, CA, and wrote about the surrounding area. 

We spent several hours at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas soaking up film clips, quotes, and memorabilia. Here's the actual camper truck that took him around the country in 1960 for the trip he wrote about in "Travels With Charley." You can see Charley, his poodle, looking out the window.

There were settings for many of his stories, including this one for "East of Eden." It was fascinating to see the stories come to life.

Afterward, we had lunch at Steinbeck's childhood home. We talked with one of the docents in the room (below) where Steinbeck was born. It was his parents bedroom at that time.

Next up was a tour of the old Pacific Biological Laboratories in nearby Monterey, home and workplace of the Steinbeck character "Doc." Doc, made famous in the 1945 book "Cannery Row," is based on Steinbeck's good friend Ed Ricketts, who lived in the lab. The short story "The Snake" also takes place in the lab.

Ricketts was a marine biologist, ecologist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the study of intertidal ecology. His lab was positioned to give him direct access to the bay's tide pools, above. The back of the building, below, leads to the bay, and the cement tanks are where he kept the ocean animals he was studying.

Visitors could pore over the books on his shelves and look at some of his hand written notes.

 

The lab building is where Ricketts and Steinbeck planned their 1940 voyage to Baja California's Sea of Cortez, a trip that led to "The Log from the Sea of Cortez." 

An extra bonus for us was that their boat, the "Western Flyer," had just been refurbished and returned to the Monterey waterfront the day before our arrival and we got to see it (below)! It arrived in a boat parade to crowds of people, speeches and other festivities that we just missed.

Years after Ricketts died, the lab was purchased by some Monterey men as their private club in order to save it from being destroyed of redeveloped. They each had their own liquor stash above the bar for their meetings. The members included artists, cartoonists (including Hank Ketchum, who wrote "Dennis the Menace"), politicians, judges, and doctors who maintained it much as Doc had left it. The club, real movers and shakers, started the Monterey Jazz Festival, which is still going strong.

And speaking of Ketchum, he designed the Dennis the Menace Playground in Monterey, which we also visited. It opened in 1956 and includes a boat that I think resembles the "Western Flyer."

The last literary site we visited was the Henry Miller Memorial Library on Big Sur, just down the road from Monterey. Miller hung in some of the same circles as Steinbeck.

It's in the building where one of Miller's friends lived and turned it into a memorial when Miller died. Giant redwoods surround the library (and book store), and the grounds are filled with quirky art.

This dog looked so regal on the old sofa under a tree hung with books protected by plastic cases.

Inside was plastered with posters of events related to Miller.

The Miller place was fun, but it's Steinbeck who is all over Monterey. This parting shot is a sculpture of Steinbeck (with the seagull perched on his head) and some of the characters from his books.

Have a colorful day

Beautiful beaches on my California trip

Carmel Beach

We visited a string of beaches on our California trip -- from Pismo through Carmel, Monterey, and Santa Cruz. I loved them all, but my favorite was Carmel for its wide soft sandy expanse and its background beauty of cypress trees. We saw a lot of happy dogs on this beach.

Pt. Lobos

The views of the water from Pt. Lobos State Natural Reserve, also in Carmel, are breathtaking, with the water colors ranging from light aqua to turquoise to a deep cobalt blue. In contrast to gentle waves on the sandy Carmel Beach, the ocean here crashes against high rocky cliffs topped with gnarled cypress trees.

Pismo Beach

 

The busiest beach we visited was Pismo -- probably because it was a warm, sunny Sunday. Here we saw surfers, waders, walkers, sand castle builders, even horses.

Santa Cruz boardwalk and beach

The famed Santa Cruz Boardwalk, with its carnival rides and bright splashy colors, was like a ghost town. We had it practically to ourselves on a sunny weekday morning.

We spent hours wandering along the boardwalk and wide beach and watching the shore birds and noisy sea lions.

Later we came back for a fish dinner at Woodie's on the wharf with a great sunset view from our table.

Monterey Bay waterfront

The waterfront here was full of boats and people. A little crowd of us watched these sea otters rolling in the water. 

Sea otter fact: Instead of blubber, sea otters have the densest fur of any mammal, about a million hairs per square inch. An undercoat and longer top coat trap air, preventing water from ever touching their skin. But the otters must spend hours a day grooming their coats to keep it in good condition.

 

One sunny morning we boarded the Princess Monterey for a whale watching trip ...

... only to be engulfed by fog and frigid wind as soon as we headed out to sea. Can you tell we're cold?

But somehow the boat's captain and naturalist found this humpback whale and her baby sleeping at the surface. We watched for quite awhile before heading back toward shore and away from the fog. On the way we got a closeup view of the barking sea lions that blend in with the rocks. Most of the sea lions we saw were males. The females stay elsewhere, according to our naturalist, but I can't remember where.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

This place is amazing! It was my third time there in about 25 years, and it just gets better and better. We spent six hours wandering through the exhibits of everything from sharks to jellyfish to shore birds.

View from a deck at the aquarium.

This shore bird wasn't shy! A favorite spot for me was behind the glass as big waves crashed over me and into a tide pool. I easily could've spent a few more hours there, but it was nearing closing time so we headed out with some good memories.

Have a colorful day

Quilts from my road trip to California

I just got back from a two-week road trip through Central California, and I hardly know where to start because we did so much -- beach walks, redwood hikes, restaurants, museums, book stores, a whale watch trip, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Danish town of Solvang and so much more!

But a good place to begin is with quilts, which included a drive up to San Jose to go through the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles (above).

There was a special exhibit of Hawaiian quilts to bolster awareness for the victims of this year's disastrous fires on Maui. Here are just a few.

There were also selections from the annual juried Excellence In Fibers exhibit. My favorite was a large quilt by Terrie Mangat about a mountain climbing excursion by her son.

I was intrigued by Robert Forman's "Dendritic," which is a yarn painting depiction of his father toward the end of his life that merges with the image of a tree and its concentric rings marking the passing years.

I also loved this one by Jean Howard titled "Botanicals 2." How could I not love it with all the glorious color and organic shapes?

Then we wandered into the Institute of Contemporary Art and found more quilts, an unexpected treat.

Here are my two favorites, for their bold abstract designs. Above is an untitled quilt pieced by Sherry Ann Byrd and quilted by William Ette Graham and Johnnie Alberta Wade.

This large quilt made mostly of worn denim fabric is untitled and pieced and tied by "Phoebe."

You may wonder how this glorious view from the Nepenthe restaurant on Big Sur relates to quilts. Well, it's where famous quilt and fabric designer Kaffe Fassett grew up! His parents started the restaurant back in the 1950s and it became THE place for Bohemians, Hollywood types, writers, artists, dancers and other free spirits. Lucky Kaffe, to be surrounded by that when he was a child.

The picture above is the view from our lunch table. Below are some wind chimes hanging in the gift shop, Phoenix.

Phoenix was filled with textile treasures, books, art, and gifts.

Another quilty stop was Back Porch Fabrics in Pacific Grove, where I met the charming owner, Gail Abeloe. When she found out I was an art quilter, she offered me a free stack of art quilt magazines that had been donated by a customer. She has a wonderful, very colorful selection of fabrics.

After that, we drove a little ways down the road in Pacific Grove to see the Asilomar Conference Grounds, where the Empty Spools quilt retreats take place every year. 

The buildings were designed by famed architect Julia Morgan in the Arts and Crafts style. Asilomar exemplifies the movement's style of using local materials to blend in with the landscape. Structures and their furnishings were simple and elegant, often left unpainted to reveal the natural beauty of the wood. The goal was to bring people back in touch with nature and restore balance and harmony, and it sure worked for me as I sat peacefully in several of the rooms.

Maybe one of these years I'll make it to a retreat there.

While in the area, we visited the Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary. I couldn't get good pictures, but there were large clusters of butterflies hanging high up in the trees, fluttering their wings to keep each other warm at night. There was a small, hushed crowd of people looking through telescopes and high-power cameras.

Have a colorful day