National Steinbeck Center

"Fun with the Family"

Sometime during their schooling, most American youngsters read John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath. If your family’s trip to the Monterey area coincides with your child’s interest in Steinbeck, make the 20-mile drive inland from Monterey. The museum is uniquely child-friendly, with interactive
displays of the author’s books and the time and place in which he lived. You can open a drawer to see his childhood treasures; feel the chill of an “ice packed”
boxcar filled with lettuce; experience the smells and the sounds of “Doc” Rickett’s science lab on Cannery Row; and learn of migrant life in the Salinas Valley. There are vintage photos, ongoing videos and movies, doors
and windows that open into historic vignettes, and Steinbeck’s charming camper truck in which he motored with his dog and wrote Travels with Charley. The new multimedia “Valley of the World” wing celebrates the agricultural heritage of the Salinas Valley with
audio clips, photographs, films, and memorabilia. My granddaughter, Melati, spent over an hour in the activities room, rearranging hundreds of magnetic words on a huge board and creating a quirky poem.
The cafe here is light and airy, with a sunny patio and reasonably riced snacks and lunches.
A few blocks away, Steinbeck’s boyhood home is a beautifully restored, elaborately decorated Victorian loaded with memorabilia (132 Central Avenue; 831–424–2745). You can have lunch here,
although it’s a rather stuffy atmosphere for kids.