Photo Blog

"Suddenly they saw the great valley below them. Al jammed on the brake and stopped in the middle of the road, and, "Jesus Christ! Look!" he said. The vineyards, the orchards, the great flat valley, green and beautiful, the trees set in rows, and the farm houses. And Pa said "God Almighty!" The distant cities, the little towns in the orchard land, and the morning sun, the golden valley." (Chapter 18, pg. 227)  

In "The Grapes of Wrath" the Joad's were uprooting their lives and making a big move to California. All throughout their drive, they didn't know what to expect when they first arrived in California or what it was going to be like. All along their journey they would hear things about what it was like in California from passing people on the road but when they got the first look at a California valley in Tehachapi, it wasn't anything they were expecting. Throughout their drive they have seen nothing but long stretches of dry land, miles on end of road, and not many land markings, so once they came upon the valley it was all the could do to scramble out of the car to get their first look at California. The color of the orchards, peach trees and the green valley was nothing they have seen and was a start to their new life beginning in California.