Who knew an English trip to study a writer could be fun? Two weeks ago [March 31], Mr. [Greg] Stobbe told his freshman honors class a limited number of students could sign up for a trip to Salinas and Monterey to study John Steinbeck at the National Steinbeck Center.

I originally thought I would skip Mr. Stobbe’s “little adventure.” But when I found out I would have to write a two to three page report on Steinbeck, I signed up for the trip to avoid the report.

The trip sounded like a total bore?walking around a museum all morning with a guide telling us all Steinbeck did in his life. But was I wrong.

The Steinbeck Museum was really interactive with a scavenger hunt of information. We could find the information and not have to listen to someone tell us all about the exhibit. The short videos portraying the novels were huge and very cool and interesting. Everything just stuck out for you to touch.

Later we boarded the bus and went to Monterey and Cannery Row right by the aquarium. This area became the basis for one of his novels. We had lunch at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Shack and we even got a Forrest Gump quiz.

I recommend this trip to everyone. We paired into groups and were able to walk around the main street with our friends and look around as well.

Most everything there was named after Steinbeck or a book of his. We saw a statue of his head and plaques on buildings he used. I never knew and author could affect such a popular area.