Hearst Castle day. Picked up some water and a few other groceries and headed up the highway. Had a few leftovers to eat before making out way to the visitor center. We had some time prior to the bus leaving so we browsed the gift shop. You cannot drive your car up to the castle, due to the road being narrow and no place to park at the top, so you park at the bottom and a bus takes you to the top. Takes almost 15 minutes to reach the castle. Upon reaching the top you are lead up the stairs to your tour guide for your particular tour that you have chosen.
Our first tour was the Cottages and Kitchen. There are three cottages, smalles being about 2500 sq ft and the others being larger. Each room had it's own bathroom, the bedrooms were on the outside with a sitting room in the middle. The views from each cottage were different, either the mountains or the ocean. The ceilings in this first cottage were amazing and all had gold leaf covering the plaster. Many of the ceilings were purchased from somewhere in Europe. After touring the cottages we toured the kitchen which was in the Casa Grande (big house). None of the cottages had eating areas as guests were required to come together to eat at the large dining table. We also got to check it the wine cellar. The kitchen was huge, and considering it was built in the 20's and 30's it had real electric refrigerators and all the kitchen gadgets of it's time. William Hearst was a man after my own heart (I also love kitchen gadgets). One of the counters (a precursor to stainless steels, but I cannot remember what it was called) could be heated from underneath in order to keep the plated food hot. If I could figure out how to add photos from my iPad I would.
Our second tour was the Grand Rooms, these being the "living room", they called it the assembly room, where the guests would first come while waiting for dinner. The walls were filled with original large tapestries from hundreds of years ago. The dining room, the reflectory, was large with a very long table. After dinner the guests would move on to the billards room to relax and visit and play pool. This was our least favorite tour.
Our third tour, yes we did them all because we wanted to, was the Upstairs tour which included more bedrooms, Williams private room, his office - which was huge, a two story bedroom and the library. We really enjoyed seeing the private areas of their home.
After our tours we walked around the the gardens and checked out the outdoor pool - amazing, and it was heated (when the Hearsts were there) and then before leaving we saw the indoor pool which was beneath the tennis courts. All in all we enjoyed our day on the enchanted hill. If you want to see pictures just check out the Hearst Castle website.
We headed north on California 1 and drove the windy, up and down road as the sun was starting to go down. I was a little difficult driving while the sun was in our eyes but once the sun had set it made it easier. Tim was enjoying all the curves while I was starting to feel a little queasy. We made it safely to Fernwood Resort which was a nice small place down a steep hill. Being nestled in the redwood trees was really quite neat. After settling in we headed up the stairs to the restaurant for a bite to eat. We had nachos with smoked pulled pork, beans and guacamole. We both enjoyed it. Tim fell asleep immediately while I had some difficulty. A hour and half later and some up chuck later, I know, gross, but then I slept sort of but mostly dreaming.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Day 37
Awoke to sunshine and were happy to see that the sea had not swamped us out, although the waves did come within about 8 feet of the camper. Ate our breakfast, said goodbye to our neighbors and drove carefully over to the dune buggy rental guys. They had not yet arrived so we had time to continue reading. Tim had already read the story about the little boy that visited heaven and now it was my turn. Very interesting so far.
Once the Sun Buggie guys showed up we strolled on over, waited for them to unload a buggy from the trailer, filled out and signed all the paperwork, watched the little video and got on our way. It was noisy, bouncy, shaking your bones, sometimes scary (not that bad), a once in a lifetime experience. It was fun, and I even drove some myself. We showered, on the beach, in our camper and headed back out on the road. We didn't go too far since we were headed for the outlet stores but we stopped at Splash restaurant for lunch, a suggestion of our neighbor from the night before. It was good, Tim had the clam chowder and I had fish tacos. We walked a bit on the pier and headed back on the road.
We found a place to stay in Morro Bay at Cypress RV park. Nice small place and the manager gave us more information about the Hearst Castle so, using the free wifi we booked ahead for tomorrow. He also suggested a place to eat called the Galley and it was a very nice place to eat. We took pics for Jordan to show him later. We were able to get our laundry done and catch up on blogging and emails. Looking forward to a peaceful night and maybe we will hear the sea otters, as we heard them while walking along the boardwalk prior to supper.
Once the Sun Buggie guys showed up we strolled on over, waited for them to unload a buggy from the trailer, filled out and signed all the paperwork, watched the little video and got on our way. It was noisy, bouncy, shaking your bones, sometimes scary (not that bad), a once in a lifetime experience. It was fun, and I even drove some myself. We showered, on the beach, in our camper and headed back out on the road. We didn't go too far since we were headed for the outlet stores but we stopped at Splash restaurant for lunch, a suggestion of our neighbor from the night before. It was good, Tim had the clam chowder and I had fish tacos. We walked a bit on the pier and headed back on the road.
We found a place to stay in Morro Bay at Cypress RV park. Nice small place and the manager gave us more information about the Hearst Castle so, using the free wifi we booked ahead for tomorrow. He also suggested a place to eat called the Galley and it was a very nice place to eat. We took pics for Jordan to show him later. We were able to get our laundry done and catch up on blogging and emails. Looking forward to a peaceful night and maybe we will hear the sea otters, as we heard them while walking along the boardwalk prior to supper.
Day 36
Woke up to beautiful sunshine and a gorgeous view of the mountains. It is amazing that here in a valley they have high speed Internet when we cannot even get it at home. Left the Rancho and headed up Hwy #154 towards Solvang. Popped in at Cachuma Lake to check it out, looked like a nice campground next to the lake. Great if you had a boat and wanted to do some fishing.
Since we were driving through wine country Tim was hoping to be able to do some wine tasting. We were fortunate to find a nice winery that was open for tasting and it was just off the highway, just before the town of Santa Ynez. Gainey Vineyard was the name of the place we chose and it was a very lovely place. Tim got his wine tasting and I sampled a few myself. My taste buds told me that they were almost all exactly the same but they were not so "winey" tasting compared to what I have tasted in the past. Tim was hoping that he would find something that he really liked but found that none of them were worth the money.
Continuing on a few miles we reached the town of Solvang, a quaint little Dutch village where we shopped, bought pastries and had lunch. I had wiener schnitzel with fried potatoes and red cabbage. On we drove to Pismo Beach passing fields of grapes, then vegetables and fruit and even some pasture land. Very beautiful drive.
Upon reaching Pismo Beach we took a road leading to the beach just to check it out and discovered that you could camp on the beach (only $10) and ride ATV's through the sand dunes. So we decided to "go for it". We did get stuck trying to find a place to park but Tim found a nice guy who came and pulled us out. We parked close to his trailer and ended up spending some time visiting with them at their camp fire. Enjoyed supper in the camper listening to the waves then went back to the camp fire for more visiting. Returned home and spent the night sleeping on the beach (inside our warm camper in our comfy bed) watching the moon and listening to the waves. Definately something we never imagined ourselves doing. It was great!
Since we were driving through wine country Tim was hoping to be able to do some wine tasting. We were fortunate to find a nice winery that was open for tasting and it was just off the highway, just before the town of Santa Ynez. Gainey Vineyard was the name of the place we chose and it was a very lovely place. Tim got his wine tasting and I sampled a few myself. My taste buds told me that they were almost all exactly the same but they were not so "winey" tasting compared to what I have tasted in the past. Tim was hoping that he would find something that he really liked but found that none of them were worth the money.
Continuing on a few miles we reached the town of Solvang, a quaint little Dutch village where we shopped, bought pastries and had lunch. I had wiener schnitzel with fried potatoes and red cabbage. On we drove to Pismo Beach passing fields of grapes, then vegetables and fruit and even some pasture land. Very beautiful drive.
Upon reaching Pismo Beach we took a road leading to the beach just to check it out and discovered that you could camp on the beach (only $10) and ride ATV's through the sand dunes. So we decided to "go for it". We did get stuck trying to find a place to park but Tim found a nice guy who came and pulled us out. We parked close to his trailer and ended up spending some time visiting with them at their camp fire. Enjoyed supper in the camper listening to the waves then went back to the camp fire for more visiting. Returned home and spent the night sleeping on the beach (inside our warm camper in our comfy bed) watching the moon and listening to the waves. Definately something we never imagined ourselves doing. It was great!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Day 35
After a not very restful sleep, for me, we got up early so we could enjoy more of the daylight hours. Headed for Carpentria to stop at the Harbor Seal Sanctuary. We saw a one or two day old pup lying on the beach, mom must have been out fishing and the other seals were either sunning themselves or out fishing. It was neat to see.
Found a Starbucks for Tim's coffee and my wifi. Headed to Santa Barbara. Rented bikes so we could see more in a shorter period of time. We peddled along the beach to the wharf where we toured around and then had a delicious fish lunch. I had Maui Maui and Tim had fish sticks, he also enjoyed my clam chowder soup, of which I tasted a spoonful and it tasted great. Too bad I cannot have milk. After lunch we biked some more and then headed up State street to check out the shopping. Our favorite store was Restoration Hardware where we saw chairs and a desk made using airplane aluminum. Tim thought they were super cool. They had other nice stuff there too.
That afternoon was a Farmers Market so we were fortunate enough to be there and we bought some strawberries, yum, and some pichacios, choco walnuts, and sundried olives. The flowers, especially the orchids were beautiful but since we had no place to enjoy them I simply took in their beauty and carried on. We returned our bikes and headed up hwy 154 to Rancho Oso. It seemed like we would never get there as the first road we turned off was curvy and then the next road we turned onto was narrower and curvier and seemed like there was no end. But alas we made it and it opened up to a very beautiful campground in the valley with a river on the one side. They had horseback riding (which we didn't do) but if we had it would have been wonderful to see the country side by horseback or if we had a motorcycle it would have been fun to bike around the curvy roads.
It was so quiet and peaceful with the moon shining in through the skylight. God is so good and his creation is so beautiful that there really is not the words to describe it. We are greatful that we are having the pleasure to take it all in.
Found a Starbucks for Tim's coffee and my wifi. Headed to Santa Barbara. Rented bikes so we could see more in a shorter period of time. We peddled along the beach to the wharf where we toured around and then had a delicious fish lunch. I had Maui Maui and Tim had fish sticks, he also enjoyed my clam chowder soup, of which I tasted a spoonful and it tasted great. Too bad I cannot have milk. After lunch we biked some more and then headed up State street to check out the shopping. Our favorite store was Restoration Hardware where we saw chairs and a desk made using airplane aluminum. Tim thought they were super cool. They had other nice stuff there too.
That afternoon was a Farmers Market so we were fortunate enough to be there and we bought some strawberries, yum, and some pichacios, choco walnuts, and sundried olives. The flowers, especially the orchids were beautiful but since we had no place to enjoy them I simply took in their beauty and carried on. We returned our bikes and headed up hwy 154 to Rancho Oso. It seemed like we would never get there as the first road we turned off was curvy and then the next road we turned onto was narrower and curvier and seemed like there was no end. But alas we made it and it opened up to a very beautiful campground in the valley with a river on the one side. They had horseback riding (which we didn't do) but if we had it would have been wonderful to see the country side by horseback or if we had a motorcycle it would have been fun to bike around the curvy roads.
It was so quiet and peaceful with the moon shining in through the skylight. God is so good and his creation is so beautiful that there really is not the words to describe it. We are greatful that we are having the pleasure to take it all in.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Day 34
Woke up to the sound of the the waves crashing on the beach and I loved it. Had our breakfast and headed out to who knows where. We had to stop for Tim's Starbucks coffee which happened to be in a Von store, actually a Safeway where we also picked up some groceries and I even saved some money using my club card (only had my phone number but it worked great).
We decided to head up to a small town called Ojai and check it out. They had lots of little unique shops and one of them had these really cool wood sculpture table things made using various types of wood. They were really nice. We had supper at a little Italian restaurant and ended up spending the night in a grocery parking lot. We had tried a little campground but they had closed their gate at 5:00 pm and it was past that.
We decided to head up to a small town called Ojai and check it out. They had lots of little unique shops and one of them had these really cool wood sculpture table things made using various types of wood. They were really nice. We had supper at a little Italian restaurant and ended up spending the night in a grocery parking lot. We had tried a little campground but they had closed their gate at 5:00 pm and it was past that.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Day 33
Happy New Year! It started out foggy this morning but soon cleared up so we headed for a walk along the beach. We had not decided how far we were going to go and eventually we realized that we would need some food but also saw that we would need to keep walking in order to find a place to eat. We ended up at the Malibu Market where there were many shops and a few restaurants. It was very busy since it was Sunday and also busy because some of the restaurants were not open. Tim ended up waiting a long time for his lunch while I was long finished eating mine.
We headed back and soon I knew that it was going to be difficult to do as my legs were getting very tired. It was very slow going but we made it. Along the way we stopped at a realtor open house. The house was built in the 70's and had some updates but could have had lots more and the price was reduced from $8 mil to $5 1/2 mil. Many of the homes in this area that have been fixed up go for $13 mil. We also learned that the weather in Malibu is always cool, so I guess I will not be moving into this local.
Returned to the camper and enjoyed supper and a relaxing evening. Heading up the coast tomorrow.
We headed back and soon I knew that it was going to be difficult to do as my legs were getting very tired. It was very slow going but we made it. Along the way we stopped at a realtor open house. The house was built in the 70's and had some updates but could have had lots more and the price was reduced from $8 mil to $5 1/2 mil. Many of the homes in this area that have been fixed up go for $13 mil. We also learned that the weather in Malibu is always cool, so I guess I will not be moving into this local.
Returned to the camper and enjoyed supper and a relaxing evening. Heading up the coast tomorrow.
Day 32
Went for a nice walk on the trail right next to our campground. We saw many different kinds of trees, shrubs and flowers. Also took a walk on the beach, had a terrific nap and then barbecued our marinated steak with baked potatoes and carrots. Enjoyed a nice relaxing evening.
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