Salinas

Salinas

Salinas is the Salad Bowl of the World, where most of the country's leafy greens, strawberries, and broccoli come from. John Steinbeck grew up here and the National Steinbeck Center downtown is excellent. The Salinas Rodeo is a century-old summer event. The Monterey Bay is 20 minutes west, but the city itself is a working ag town with strong Mexican-American culture.

Greensboro

Greensboro was the site of the 1960 Woolworth sit-in (the original lunch counter is preserved at the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, downtown). Four major colleges feed the city, the food scene leans BBQ and good coffee, and the surrounding Piedmont rolls gently in every direction. It's the geographic center of North Carolina, which makes it a useful base for everything else in the state.