Jun 17, 2013 - The Hearst Castle and Our Short Tour of Big Sur

Arrived at the Hearst Castle about 9:45 AM and bought tickets for the 10:20 AM Grand Rooms Tour. Hung around for a bit. The DW checked the gift shop and I checked the wine, beef and olive oil. Hearst Ranch sells all three. The property was a huge cattle ranch before W. R. Hearst decided to build his summer home . His father had originally bought the property and at one point owned 250 000 acres. The ranch is still a working ranch and they sell their products locally. Ar 10:20 we boarded a bus for the 15 minute ride to the top of the hill...

Jun 16, 2013 - Headed North to Hearst Castle

Happy Fathers' Day to all of you who are fathers. Up early and out of the campground by 8:80 AM. We want to get to the next park early because we don't have a reservation. Beautiful drive along the coast. Stopped at Morro Bay State Park and the attendant phone ahead to San Simeon State Park which is only 5 miles from Hearst Castle. No problem the had sites available. Away we went and arrived at the park about 1:00 PM. Set up on a site and only paid $20/night. We are staying here for two nights as we want to give ourselves the whole day to...

Mar 14, 2013 - Hearst castle

Traveled along California coast road to San Simeon and the Hearst castle. High up on a hillside is an incredible home built by William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper Barron . We started out watching a film about his life. 5 minutes into the film Jo and I looked at each other and said, that look like Ricky Mabe !! Playing him as a boy. Sure enough at the end of the film ,the credits confirmed it was him. Cool. We then did the tour of the place . Just your everyday castle . Amazing art works, furniture , views, swimming pools. Indoor Roman...

Sep 22, 2012 - Hearst Castle

7:00 and the alarm woke us for a full day of activities. An early breakfast, shower and walking Sugar twice prepared us for the long drive to Hearst Castle in San Simeon. I was never aware there were so many mountains in this area of California. The coastal highway took us on the last few miles to the entrance of the visitor center. There was a large souvenir shop, cafeteria and area for us to pick up our reservation materials I had called in the day before. It is difficult to believe we travelled before cell phones and the “Maggies” of the...

Aug 29, 2012 - Hearst Castle

Yea!! – Hearst Castle day. We were there early – cutting it close was NOT an option. The Visitor’s Center complex is huge – information booth, ticket windows, coffee shop, café, tables, gift shop, museum and theater. We picked up our tickets and got our wrist bands for each tour. Bob had time for coffee and a muffin (also known as a ‘bite-a’). At our appointed time, we boarded a bus for the 5 mile ride up the hill to the Castle – narration by Alex Trebeck. A tour guide greeted the bus – directed us – and reinforced the rules for at least...

Aug 10, 2012 - Hearst's Castle

We are moving further down the coast today. We are driving down Highway 101 and it is a pretty good road so the trip was not too long. We are going to stay in the Morro Bay area, except the closest place we could find is a KOA about 30 miles away. For about two thirds of the way here we continued to see fields of vegetables and grapes. The highway runs down the middle of a very wide valley. Because we our more inland the temperature keeps going up. When we arrived at the campground it was 105 – that is the hottest temp we have encountered...

May 11, 2012 - California Coast Kitesurfing

We stopped just north of Ragged Point to watch Kitesurfing at its best. There were very strong winds and about 15 or so people were braving the elements to watch a handful of Kitesurfers skipping across the white capped bay. We are located just above San Simeon. Mike and Nancy

Apr 11, 2012 - San Simeon - Hearst Castle

Destination # 85: San Simeon, California Mileage: 70 miles (from San Luis Obispo, CA) Arrive: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 Depart: Thursday, April 12, 2012 • Wednesday, April 11  We are staying in the San Simeon State Park Campground, another beautiful setting somewhat muted, though, by the cloudy, cool weather. San Simeon, itself is a very small village right on the ocean  Our express purpose here is to see Hearst Castle. Our tour takes in the following highlights: * The very long and winding road up the hill to the site of the castle. The...

Oct 22, 2011 - My Rook takes your Castle

Did not travel much yesterday just 35 miles to one of the highlight stops of our trip.....Hearst Castle in San Simeon CA. This is the best "house" tour we have been on. But to call it a house is like calling the White House a house. Built between 1919 and 1947 as a collaboration between William Randolph Hearst and noted architect Julia Morgan this 165 room mansion is on top of a hill overlooking the Pacific, It is done in a early European style and is in itself an art exhibit of woodworking ,all ceilings are wood art from Europe hundreds of...

Oct 10, 2011 - Santa Barbara to San Simeon

A slack day today with a slow cruise up the coast. We hit up the local Starbucks for a morning coffee and started on HWY 1 about 9am. The bright sun and the blue ocean was a spectacular backdrop to the coastal hills and beaches with every turn and twist providing new surprises. Every once and a while we stopped at a local antiques mall to trawl through what was on sale. We could have filled a container with the stuff we've seen from cast iron pot belly stoves to paintings, furniture and furnishings. There was even an Irish made stage coach...

Jul 26, 2011 - Hearst Castle

July 25. We spent most of the day up on the hill that hosts the Hearst Castle and enjoyed every minute of it. This site which started building in 1919 is an amazingly wonderful place. The foresight of Hearst and his architect, Julia Moargan, to build this Castle and bring historic artwork from all over the world is unbelievable. 28 years in the making and still was unfinished. He didn't spend much time there but always had guests. Ultimately, he wanted people who weren't able to get to Europe and other far away destinations to still be...

May 12, 2011 - Hearst Castle

Leaving Santa Barbara we got back on 101 Northbound and when it turned easterly into the valley we went westerly along the coast on the PCH. We made a lunch stop in Santa Maria for tri-tip sandwich. Lou had that and Susan had linguica sandwich. That was a must stop in the BBQ world. We took a shot with no reservation that we would find a site in Morro Bay state Park. There is a museum associated with the park that shows pictures of the park being built in the 1930's by FDR's CCC after the great depression. The worker's were paid one dollar...