Vacation or Staycation: 16 sweet spots in the Monterey County seat

Read the Californian column “Salinas youth and city officials: new partners in tourism.” It includes 16 recommendations, and underneath the newsclip version below, there are links to each of those recommended spots.

Listen to a related 2-minute audio written and recorded by Mari Lynch and produced by Guy Lasnier of KUSP: “Bikes are taking to the streets.”

Below: © Mari Lynch. Published in the Salinas Californian,

18 October 2013, page 2A.

Links for the above recommendations are listed in the order in which they are cited. Recommendations #3-8, and #15 are HER Helmet Thursdays spots, as well as being otherwise recommended.

At the HER Helmet Thursdays spots*, get a discount if you bike or bike-and-ride to their location on a Thursday.

There are Salinas lodging spots in HER Helmet Thursdays too. To get a discount on Thursday night lodging, BYOB–Bring Your Own Bike–or rent a bicycle for a day or more at any Monterey County location.

1. Sea Otter Classic, which takes place at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Salinas
2. Ciclovia Salinas, Monterey County’s first Open Streets
3. National Steinbeck Center
4. Steinbeck House*
5. First Awakenings*
6. Tacos El Jalisciense on Alisal at Madeira*
7. Gino’s Fine Italian Restaurant*
8. River Road Wineries – including some HER Helmet Thursdays wineries* Hahn SLH Estate Winery, Paraiso Vineyards, and Scheid Vineyards
9. Colorful murals about town (also see Bicycling’s Monterey’s bike Salinas section for links to Salinas murals)
10. John Cerney’s Art
11. The Farm
12. McShane’s Nursery and Landscape Supply
13. Star Market
14. Schoch Family Farmstead
15. Perfectly Pressed*
16. Rancho Cielo (Drummond Culinary Academy) – Reservations required

A front-page story in the Salinas Californian (2/1/10) introduced HER Helmet Thursdays. The Monterey County Weekly joined local bike shops in celebrating the project’s 5th Anniversary in 2014; check it out.

For yet more fun things to do in Salinas, see “Biking Salinas: What to do in the Monterey County seat, which also highlights over 35 HER Helmet Thursdays spots in Salinas! (Short link:  http://bit.ly/bikesalinas)

Learn more about Ciclovia Salinas

Recognized by the national Open Streets Project–“Opening Streets to People, Sharing Resources, Transforming Communities,” Monterey County’s first Open Streets, Ciclovía Salinas, is one of the first dozen such locations in all of California! Keep in touch so you can attend future Ciclovía Salinas dates.

How? Click here.

Below: Saul Soto, who provides a mobile bike repair service based in Castroville, was riding one of his custom-built bicycles, following his barricade volunteer shift at the inaugural Ciclovía Salinas.

© Juanita Turner  Photography. Used by permission.