Cole rides on THE red pony from Steinbeck's "The Red Pony."

Remember back in September, I was like ... work takes all my time. Not much has changed, but I have finally gotten around to posting these fun little pics from our Salinas/Santa Cruz adventure. We made the trek down in September before Cole started work — one last hurrah?!?

First stop, Salinas, which is the home of the National Steinbeck Center. For the subject matter, this place was really cool, and even better because we had just read "East of Eden" (okay, we listened to it) earlier this year. Unfortunately, Of Mice and Men was really the only other one I was familiar with. If you had read them all, it would definitely be a hit. After the museum, we ate at a restaurant in the sleepy downtown area.

Steinbeck's house is just down the street from the National Steinbeck Center.

Also near the National Steinbeck Center ... Cal's Liquors.

Not much going on in downtown Salinas.

After our educational morning, we drove to the beach — more specially the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. We didn't spring for ride wristbands. Instead, we bowled, played putt-putt golf, scored points in the arcade and dipped out toes in the ocean.

Next, we drove up to Santa Cruz to the boardwalk! There, Cole played lots of arcade games.

Cole races inside the Star Wars pod.

At the boardwalk, we play a few games of crazy-light bowling.

And of course, we putt-putt golf. I lost, like usual.

We also wandered out onto the beach to feel the sand and water, and watch people ride the rides at night.

Overall, it was a great weekend before we were both working. Now, we need to start playing more fun things to do instead of working all the time ...

The boardwalk was a great way to end the day.