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Hearst Castle Trip
Jul. 1st, 2008 07:05 amWell - I just got home from Palo Alto on Tuesday morning and all I can say about my trip was how wonderful it is to travel with David. We had a ball. We quickly fell into our car trip roles - manic driver and beverage man/DJ. David took his DJ role seriously - even researching the lives of the composers we played and playing KDFC DJ and giving me to low down. We listened to Bartok, Brahms and Mozart - David's three favorite composers.
We got started about noon on Saturday - and drove south on 101. Our pace was casual - stopping when things looked interesting - or it was time for a Kateywalk. While stopping in King City - Katey attracted a suitor. We named him Don Juan. He was so persistent about "getting to know" Kate that he ran after the car when we drove away. He was a cute little guy.
Then we drove over the hills from Pasa Robles. The hills between Pasa Robles and the ocean was littered with vineyards and it reminded us both of the Napa Valley a lot.
We spent the first evening walking the beaches at San Simeon and just relaxing.
Sunday morning we took our first tour of Hearst Castle, "The Experience Tour" - which gave an overview of the house and the grounds. We went back on Sunday to tour the gardens, the guest houses (the smallest of which was 2400 sq feet) and the wine cellar.
I'll write some more about Hearst Castle and my reactions and stuff later - but suffice to say it was a startling homage to incredible vast wealth. WR Hearst spared nothing creating his castle. From the "neptune pool" above to the incredible main house (70 rooms, a strange mix of California catholic mission and Mediterranean villa) below - to the 70 rooms and incredible size of EVERYTHING. Considering it was built in the 30s and 40s - the technology it took to pull it off is pretty impressive. It was the first mansion on the west coast to have running water and electricity.
Saturday afternoon we drove up and down the coast - taking in some supreme oceanside makeout spots. (yay!) We also drove up to check out a heard of elephant seals which were sunning themselves and molting their winter fur.
We ate really well on this trip - the motel came with free dinner and breakfast at local restaurants.
We drove back yesterday hitting some serious accident-related traffic snarls - - and ended up getting home (in Palo Alto) about 10pm. But honestly - we were lazy getting out of San Simeon because we didn't want to arrive in San Jose, etc. at the height of rush hour.
The alarm went off at 530 and I motored home this morning. It was a grand, grand trip. David described it as "a dry run for much bigger travel adventures." That is just super!
We got started about noon on Saturday - and drove south on 101. Our pace was casual - stopping when things looked interesting - or it was time for a Kateywalk. While stopping in King City - Katey attracted a suitor. We named him Don Juan. He was so persistent about "getting to know" Kate that he ran after the car when we drove away. He was a cute little guy.
Then we drove over the hills from Pasa Robles. The hills between Pasa Robles and the ocean was littered with vineyards and it reminded us both of the Napa Valley a lot.
We spent the first evening walking the beaches at San Simeon and just relaxing.
Sunday morning we took our first tour of Hearst Castle, "The Experience Tour" - which gave an overview of the house and the grounds. We went back on Sunday to tour the gardens, the guest houses (the smallest of which was 2400 sq feet) and the wine cellar.
I took gabillion photos of Hearst Castle - the full photoset is here.
I'll write some more about Hearst Castle and my reactions and stuff later - but suffice to say it was a startling homage to incredible vast wealth. WR Hearst spared nothing creating his castle. From the "neptune pool" above to the incredible main house (70 rooms, a strange mix of California catholic mission and Mediterranean villa) below - to the 70 rooms and incredible size of EVERYTHING. Considering it was built in the 30s and 40s - the technology it took to pull it off is pretty impressive. It was the first mansion on the west coast to have running water and electricity.
Saturday afternoon we drove up and down the coast - taking in some supreme oceanside makeout spots. (yay!) We also drove up to check out a heard of elephant seals which were sunning themselves and molting their winter fur.
We ate really well on this trip - the motel came with free dinner and breakfast at local restaurants.
We drove back yesterday hitting some serious accident-related traffic snarls - - and ended up getting home (in Palo Alto) about 10pm. But honestly - we were lazy getting out of San Simeon because we didn't want to arrive in San Jose, etc. at the height of rush hour.
The alarm went off at 530 and I motored home this morning. It was a grand, grand trip. David described it as "a dry run for much bigger travel adventures." That is just super!
