Rambles In The Brambles

We started on Sunday morning, and returned on Monday evening. Our course was to drive up the 405 to the 101, and take that through Santa Barbara. We stopped downtown for lunch, and then took California 154 as a scenic detour (much recommended) back into the 101. At San Luis Obispo, we turned off onto the Pacific Coast Highway (the 1 freeway). This provided spectacular views up the coast, to San Simeon. In San Simeon, we stayed at the San Simeon Lodge, which was cheap, clean, and comfortable. (While not a luxury hotel by any stretch of the imagination, it more than fulfilled our expectations.)

We took the introductory tour of Heart Castle on Saturday night. We purchased our tickets on the web the day before, and that seems like a good thing to do. I've included some pictures of the castle below, because I have noticed a lot of those kinds of pictures on the net and I am not selling them, but please keep in mind that the Hearst State Historical Monument requests that they maintain some level of control over them. The docent on the tour was enthusiastic and provided interesting information. I was amazed at the opulence of Hearst's estate, and the sheer number of antiquities shoved into the space.

On Sunday, we drove a couple of miles north along the coast, to observe a major resting ground for elephant seals. This site, located at N 35°39.792´ W 121°15.436 ´, was fascinating, as there were hundreds of seals sunbathing, wrestling, and swimming. We returned back to Los Angeles via the 101 freeway, and only suffered from Memorial Day traffic near Santa Barbara.

	The view of from the top of the Cold Spring Arch Bridge, from the California 154 freeway.
	The Hearst Castle contains several outbuilding for guests, as well as the main building. This guest house was either Casa del Sol or Casa del Mar.
	Neptune's Pool, at the Hearst Castle.
	Neptune's Pool, at the Hearst Castle. I think that Elizabeth wanted to jump in.
	Apparently, Neptune's Pool had been grown three times during Hearst's building, from a small wading pool to this beautiful Romanesque building.
	I accidently had the flash on my camera turned on, but it captured this interesting ceiling in one of the guest houses. Every inch of every building has covered with artwork, which points to amazing attention to detail. Personally, I prefer a clean and simple look, but can appreciate the effort.
	Afternoon sun in a guest bedroom, with a view of the sea.
	The oldest artifact on the grounds was this Egyptian statue.
	The main building of the estate. The entire estate was designed to be like a Mediterrean village, with the main building playing the role of the church.
	An interesting fountain on the grounds. I wonder how much of the artwork was new for the building, and how much was imported.
	The main dining room had an interesting carved-wood ceiling. While there was a lot of interesting artwork and craft in all of the pieces of the building, I am sometimes surprised by lack of certain creature comforts that I take for granted now. (This was certainly the case in some of the castles that I explored in England.) Progress (even from the 1950's) is amazingly fast.
	Hearst also had an indoor pool, which had an Arabic or Moorish look to it.
	The Castle, from the tour bus, as we headed back to the visitor center.
	Elephant seals, playing in the water.
	Seals, closer up. According to the signs, most of the large males were still out to sea, while the females were in the molting stage.
	The intrepid travellers, posing with other lazy seals.