A Fun Trip Home: Castles and Kings!

We decided to do a little sightseeing on the drive home. We spent Friday night in Cambria at this motel right on the ocean. This is a view out our window. We left our window open all night so we could hear the ocean, but as you can see it is somewhat stormy. So that meant we also needed to leave the gas fireplace on most of the night!

Early Saturday morning we had reservations for a tour of Hearst Castle at San Simeon. This is a view of the castle from our bus which takes you on a five mile journey up the hill.

Here is an overhead shot to show how expansive the grounds are on top of the hill--three guest houses and the main house.

The entrance to La Casa Grande:

Here are two interior rooms we were able to see: the Assembly Room and the Refectory or dining hall:

Every room and every area outside is filled with works of art, sculpture and tapestry from many different centuries and purchased from all around the world. The outdoor Neptune Pool is quite impressive. Our guide revealed that they allow the park employees to swim in it once a year in late August.

I loved seeing all the artwork and beauty which the Hearst family has given to the state of California. But it was interesting to contrast the fact that all of this was built and purchased during the Depression and WW II decades when so many were suffering. One fact they mentioned was that there was a zoo on the property at the time and it cost $10,000 per month (1930's money) just for the ice for the polar bear's pool! I'm glad I'm not rich like that; what a stewardship to make so many decisions on how to spend your money!

We also took a little detour to see the King of the seal family: the Elephant Seals! This was prime time to see them along the coast as the females have arrived and most have just given birth and the males (weighing up to 5,0000 pounds) have been around since December arriving from Alaska.
Although this picture looks like they are just laying around,

there was actually lots of noise and activity! The males like to show off and the babies are hungry looking for Mom. Sounds like home!

We took a picture of this sign to show how big these guys actually are when compared to a human:

A face only a mother could love!