Do You Know The Way To San Jose?

We decided to stay at Yanks RV Resort near Monterey, California, south of San Jose for a couple of weeks to see the area. We spent a day at each of Pinnacles National Park, Salinas, and San Jose.

Yanks, a new resort, has spacious FHU sites.

The west gate of Pinnacles National Park is outside
of Soledad, just seven miles north of our RV Resort.

Lunch Before Our Hike

Balconies Trail

Entrance to Balconies Cave

Lookout Point on 3.5 mile Condor Gulch Trail
accessed via the East Entrance of the Park

The National Steinbeck Center, in Salinas, was very interesting. The town is very proud of their native son. He lived here most of his life and drew upon his family and life experiences in the Salinas Valley to write his novels and short stories. The Museum had many interactive exhibits and film clips. We found it extremely interesting as we learned about the background and setting of some of his famous books, such as "Of Mice and Men", "Cannery Row", "East of Eden", "The Red Pony" and "Grapes of Wrath".

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Sculpture of Steinbeck with Famous 19 Books

This is the actual pickup camper Steinbeck used on
his trip which formed the basis of his book
"Travels With Charley" 1962
“...people don’t take trips—trips take people.”
John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America  

 

Boyhood Home of John Steinbeck
Two blocks from the Steinbeck Center

On Thursday, we found our way to San Jose, about a hundred miles north of the RV Resort. Our first stop was the Winchester Mystery House. This is a Victorian mansion that many think was designed to baffle the spirits that were haunting Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester Arms Fortune. After her only child and husband died, she moved to San Jose into a small country farm house. She felt a need to build onto this house for the next 38 years until her death in 1922. With 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 13 bathrooms, 10,000 windows, 47 fireplaces, blind closets, secret passageways and 40 staircases, the house is so complex that even the owner and the servants needed maps to find their way. We took a 65 minute guided tour through the interior of this expansive 24,000 square foot home along with a self-guided tour of the Winchester Museum and the gardens.

The Back of the House and Gardens

Sarah Winchester imported plants from all parts
the world, keeping her 8 gardeners busy.

While in San Jose, we also visited the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. This museum building and gardens were designed to resemble the Temple of Amon at Kamak. The extensive collection includes human and animal mummies, coffins, textiles, musical instruments, toys, jewelry and other objects from everyday life in ancient Egypt.

Replica of King Tut's inner coffin with a
Replica of an Egyptian Rock Tomb you could explore.