Salinas, California sits in a fertile valley between the Gabilan and Santa Lucia Mountain Ranges. A town of about 150,000 people, it is the Monterey County seat.

Salinas is John Steinbeck country. The 1962 Nobel Prize-winning author's home, where he wrote early stories such as The Red Pony and Tortilla Flat is open for tours. For a more in-depth look at the author's career, the National Steinbeck Center features extensive exhibits that include the truck Rocinante that the author drove while writing Travels with Charley. The annual Steinbeck Festival offers even more opportunities to tour Steinbeck sites and hear lectures and speakers.

Just outside of town is The Farm, an agricultural education center run by a local farming business offering tours of its operations. For a more in-depth look at local agriculture, Ag Venture Tours specializes in guided tours that highlight the area's agriculture and wine industry.

In the animal kingdom, Wild Things Inc. offers daily tours that give visitors a chance to meet and learn about their animal performers which include lion Josef, tigers Kolar and Kali and host of other cheetahs, leopards, cougars and other animals. An animal attraction of a different kind, the Salinas Rodeo attracts more than 30,000 people each year.

Top Salinas restaurants include Tarpy's Roadhouse, serving country cuisine in a remodeled 1917 roadhouse; Hullaballoo, Spados Italian Bistro, the Salinas Valley Fish House and the Steinbeck House.

Most Salinas lodging is in chain hotels: Residence Inn, Best Western, Holiday Inn, but just outside of Salinas is one of California's most unusual bed and breakfast inns, the Vision Quest Safari at Wild Things, Inc. Owned by animal trainer Charlie Sammut, this property offers safari-style tent accommodations, a chance to see some of the animals up close and breakfast delivered by the elephants.