California Day 4

So as I mentioned last night, today our big trip to the Hearst Castle. After enjoying a nice bowl of Cream of Wheat that Rhoda prepared for us, Brynn and I left at about 10am for the castle. We arrived at the visitor’s center only to find that indeed the tour we were about to embark on would include having to climb about 200 stairs. Brynn suggested we find out if we could join the special disabled tour, which meant NO stairs at all. After visiting the proper office to arrange this, we were happy to learn that indeed we were able to take the special disabled tour after all. We had some time to kill before the tour was to start at 12:20, so we decided to go and see the film about William Randolph Hearst, in the newly build movie theatre. I am so glad we did, not only was it a spectacular movie on a huge IMAX screen, it was done extremely well, of course lots of money was able to generate the quality, but as well we had learned all about the inspiration behind the building of this castle and how it was done, therefore being able to later enjoy the tour even more. After the screening I bought the available DVD to take home to show the rest of the family plus it’s a great souvenir.


At 12:20 Brynn and I made our way over to the private bus. The 2 of us, plus 2 other boys from Indonesia, (one had a sprained ankle) were the only ones in the bus. We traveled up 5 miles of a very winding road, up to the top of the mountain were the castle was situated. From there we first got a to see the indoor Roman pool , then we got into a golf cart, the 4 of us, and our private tour guide gave us a tour of the grounds. We saw, the tennis courts, the outdoor Greek pool and the private guesthouses.
We were able to also enter one of the guesthouses as well. They were just stunning, with each room decorated in beautiful, very costly furnishing and painting. The view from the bedroom alone was breathtaking,
looking down to San Simeon Pier that I had visited the day before.
our tour continued around the grounds, and finally at into back of the main house, where we were able to enter the enormous kitchen . From the kitchen we then entered the Dinning hall, adorned with Belgium tapestries and 300-year-old silver candleholders. The table was set, including a bottle of Ketchup and mustard from the 1930’s. Mr. Hearst and his film star guests occupied the 26 chairs that lined this long teak table. The upper gallery was a small balcony for the various musicians that performed at the dinners. From the Dinning Hall we then entered the waiting room, this room was where the guests would have a pre dinner chat and cocktail. Once Mr. Hearst shows up , they then entered the dinner hall for their evening meal. From here we went to the room that was between the dinning hall and the billiard room,

which was designed for the women to freshen up in the powder room and the men to have an after dinner drink and a cigar before they would all continue on to the billiard for a few games of pool. After the pool games they were invited by Mr. Hearst into his 100 seat private art deco movie theatre for the evening movie which usually included his girlfriend/actress Marion Davies. This was then the end of the tour. We made out way back down the road to the visitors center to even more gorgeous weather. Later that afternoon we traveled along Hwy 46 on out way to finally visit Michael, Brynn’s new boyfriend, in Atascadero. This Hwy is traveled about 4 times weekly by Brynn and is one of the most scenic commutes I have ever experienced.

We stopped and took some photos of the rolling green hills that extended down all the way to the sea. it was like a painting ! we continued on to Cowboy country ! Yee haaa… we entered Michaels town, and I counted 10 pickup trucks that drove by in 20 seconds.. this is the land of pick up trucks… ??? so we then drove to Michaels quaint yellow ranch style house with flowers in the front, and found a garage full of Motorcycles and bikes. Michael greeted us… we then all went to see the evening farmers market in San Luis Obispo. A wonderful market full of fresh produce and lots of smoking BBQ stands. Street musicians and artists alike, people making political statements and every kind of person you could imagine enjoying this wonderful array of natures wonders. We bought some fruit, and headed back to the van, were we then decided to go and have dinner at a great Mexican Restaurant called La Mexicana. What a great day, we ended out meal, said our goodbyes, and Brynn and I drove back over the hills in the full moon light, the light was so strong it guided us safely home !