A Trip North to . . .

Steinbeck’s Salinas

The soft rolling hills on the left, coming south out of Salinas, were a sunlit green. That’s not usual for California where climate keeps the land parched, dry, and  golden. Having lived along the gold coast many years, I’d gotten used to the color. The rolling Gabilan Mountains skirting Salinas on the east matches the color, usually.  http://www.californiagoldcoastguide.com/

Today proved different for the occasional visitor. It’s spring, and by some quirk called weather, it had rained. The valley below the mountains stays green from the hiss of agricultural sprinklers that spurt non-stop, but the  mountains themselves depend on sky tears. Dusty gold turns to blotches of deep purple shiners when clouds rumble by to grab at the peaks with whitened fingers.

 “Dark and brooding” (as Steinbeck calls them,) the Santa Lucia’s rise nearly 6,000 feet from  the valley floor. Their highlands gave birth to the Grapes of Wrath. This is California wine country. http://www.santaluciahighlands.com/slh-appellation   

My eyes follow the thin filaments of white smoke from ag-fires up, taking in the wizened flanks that had  turned  a deep, dark blue-green. .They halt at the foggy mists shrouding the mountain tops.  From their summits down to the valley floor and up the other side of the 3,000 foot Gabilans, the two ranges that define the Salinas Valley form a virtual parabola. These mountains had never before looked so steep to me. It took my breath away.

Steinbeck describes it well: http://steinbeckcountry.sutromedia.com/santa-lucia-mountains.html