When I woke up this morning I knew that I'd be going on a 10:40 a.m. tour at the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, only about 15 miles north of Morro Bay. I figured after the tour I would just come back here to the little beach house and while away the day. But the urge to drive and explore took over (thanks Daddy!) so my day kind of went a different direction. But first, the Hearst Castle.
I've been to the Hearst Castle before, taking the Grand Rooms tour. This time I decided to take the Upstairs Rooms tour. There were only about 15 people on the bus ride up the hill to the castle, so that was nice. I don't know much of the history of the whole Hearst family, but I did learn a couple of things:
- William Randolph Hearst's parents were not born into money. They were both self-made, hard workers.
- William Randolph Hearst's wife did not like living at "the ranch" so she left him and moved back to New York. They never divorced. Mr. Hearst hooked up with Marion Davies, a Hollywood starlet, much younger than himself, and she had her own room at the castle. When Hearst died he left 51% of the Hearst corporation to Marion, but she sold it back to the family for $1.00, which tells me that she did not marry Hearst for his money.
- William started collecting things when he was a 10 year old boy. His mother was a collector and took William with her when she traveled. He learned to love beautiful and valuable things from these experiences with his mother. The Hearst Castle is filled to the brim with collections from Egyptian vases to Italian ceilings to thousands and thousands of books. And he loved doors!
I took lots of pictures of the outside and inside the castle, as well as some flowers from the garden.
The view from one of the guest rooms
One of the cottages
Roman Pool - indoor
Castle on a hill
One of hundreds of statues on the grounds
Empty Neptune Pool - outdoor pool
One of the many ornate guest bedrooms. Famous guests would often switch rooms each night they were in residence. There are so many guest bedrooms!
One of the doors in Hearst's collection
Half of this Venetian ceiling is in one guest room and the other half is in another.
A painted ceiling in a guest bedroom
Half of the enormous library and book collection
Hundreds of Egyptian vessels sit on shelves around the library
William Randolph Hearst's bedroom
His mistresses bedroom
Hearst's office on the hill
Even more books in his collection
This is not a painting on the wall. It is a painting on the ceiling.
Beautiful flowers in the garden
After the tour and the 5-mile bus ride back down the hill, I grabbed a hot dog and chips and got on the road. Like I said, I had no intentions of driving today, but the bug hit and I took off. It was such a gorgeous day and I really wanted to see the lighthouse in Big Sur. Between San Simeon and Big Sur was CA-1, the winding, cliff-hanging, coast hugging road that possibly means going only 25 miles an hour for 100 miles, one way. I decided I would practice my patience and my level of commitment. No matter how slow the car in front of me, I would stick to it and see it through. I cranked up the tunes and away I went.
First up - elephant seals. Total surprise. I didn't not know about this particular pull-off-the-road site. No, these guys are not dead. They are completely lazing around. I witnessed several of them flipping dirt up on themselves and they were totally blending in with the sand.
Next up - the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse. Yep, in my last post I mentioned that I was not going to be able to see this one. I truly thought that I wouldn't be able to see it unless I went on the tour. So imagine my surprise, and delight, as I'm cruising down the highway and there it is, right in front of me. I couldn't get close to it, but the view from the road was perfect.
This is the view when heading north.
This is the view when heading back south.
Then it was just the open road between here and Big Sur. Well, not completely open. There were some small towns cut into the sides of cliffs, resorts with little cabins practically hanging over the cliffs, and I even saw a row of colored mail boxes on the coast side of the very narrow, winding road, so there must be a bunch of houses tucked away somewhere. One of my favorite sites was a hippie bus, painted all kinds of bright colors, and a very cute California girl standing next to the bus, with a big smile on her face and a cardboard sign that read "WE NEED WEED." Totally made me smile!!
The other surprise was seeing whale spouts quite often. At one point I pulled off the road because so many people were pointing and looking through binoculars. Lots and lots of whale spouts and one big splash. Gray whales migrating and/or feeding along the California coast. I saw water spouts on the way up to Big Sur and on the way back. One place where they were particularly active was Limekiln State Park. I found that interesting as when I watch Orca whales in the San Juan Islands it's at Lime Kiln State Park on San Juan Island.
Three gray whales together
About two-and-a-half hours after I left San Simeon, I finally arrived at Big Sur, where I had to fill up with gas for $5.10 a gallon!! Ridiculous! But I did get to see the Point Sur Lighthouse. I could not get any closer than Highway 1, but I did see it!
But the best part of this whole day road trip was the absolutely stunning coastal scenery. It's really hard to drive and view, but I pulled off the road often. If I would have pulled off at every turnout, it would have taken me an additional three hours! It was so gorgeous!! The colors of the water were stunning greens and blues. High cliffs and very winding roads made for quite an adventure, but so very worth it!!
One of my favorite views!
Look at the colors of the water! So beautiful!
In love with the ocean!!
I felt my Daddy with me today. He would have told me to slow down on the curves and he would not have pulled out as much as I did to take pictures, but he loved a good, adventurous road trip. He always ate a bag of circus peanut candy or salt water taffy. Can't see a bag of those tooth-decay-inducing orange circus peanut candies without smiling and thinking of my daddy. Thanks Daddy for sharing your love of road trips with me.
