California 10.16.12

Heading up Hwy 101 along the Pacific Coast, our day starts with a tour of the castle/ranch that belonged to William Randolph Hearst.  We learned a lot about Hearst, including the fact that he never really completed this project, even though he had worked on it for almost 30 years.  He had five sons, but lived his last 30 years with his mistress.  His wife moved to New York where she became involved in philanthropy.  

His father became wealthy mining for silver in the mid 1800's and began buying the property along the coast and into the mountains.  He and his only son, William, enjoyed camping up in the mountains.  When William was ten years old, his mother took him to Europe for the next year and a half, touring the great palaces and castles which he fell in love with.

The tour bus has to take you up the winding roads to the castle.

 The views were magnificent.  So much wealth in one place!  It was really cool that he made his home self-sufficient as far as food--growing their own fruits, vegetables and raising their own beef, chicken and pork.  He even had his own zoo on the grounds to entertain his guests.

 Beautiful gardens and fountains were everywhere.  He had several guesthouses that were 2600 square feet each--the size of our home now!

The walls of the main living area were covered in tapestries.

The gameroom where everyone gathered before dinner to play Mah-Jong and work wooden puzzles.

Again, the detailed ceilings caught my attention.  He was fascinated by the lightbulb---and insisted on the light fixtures not covering them but rather exposing them.   

There was a hidden door in this room that led up to his private quarters...they said he was likely to appear and disappear during a party when his house was full of guests.

The dining room could seat probably 50 guests.  He and Miss Davies (the girlfriend) always sat across from each other in the middle....the other guests were assigned seats based on who they wanted to talk to.  If you were given seats at the ends, it was your sign that your visit should be coming to an end. 

His place setting with the embroidered napkins.

WR (as the guide called him and Steve started referring to him as) sat here.

The billiard room was stunning.

After dinner, WR's guest, along with all of the staff, were led into the theater room for a current "newsreel" along with a current movie.  Quite often, the stars of the movie were guests there, such as Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, Carole Lombard and Greta Garbo--all regulars at the castle.

One of the stunning light fixtures in the theater.  Notice again the exposed bulbs that he was fascinated in.  The guests were each given a soft blanket for their seat, which were down filled theater seats.

Climbing roses on one of the 2600 square foot guest homes....if those walls could talk!

The Neptune Pool.  This was probably my favorite location on the entire estate.  It holds 345,000 gallons of water.  Even the ladders are carved from marble.  It is shallow by the sides but goes to ten feet in depth in the middle.

More of the "naked ladies" as the gentleman called them.  They were stunning though!

Steve looking over at the steps and area leading to the Neptune Pool.  In the film footage they showed Clark Gable sitting at the edge of the pool talking to some other actors.

Here we are kicking our feet up without a care in the world.  It was kind of fun to pretend for a bit that we lived there and this was our life.  It was a very relaxed tour, with seating for the tourists and no rush for us to leave.

An actual photo of us together here---glad we have a few to prove we were together to celebrate twenty years!

Bleeding hearts, I believe.

And just when we were nearing the area to leave, we found the other pool called the Roman Pool.  This is the one area that was never completed by WR Hearst before his death.  The pool is complete, but the attached workout room was not.  Above this building was a huge outdoor tennis court on that level.  If you notice the balcony-looking outcropping on the right side, that is actually a high dive area...we saw it on the film later.  The center of this pool is also ten feet deep.  It is heated also for winter use.

Better view of the high dive platform.

We were told this tile inlay is gold leaf...crazy!

Once we were back down hill to the visitor center, we watched a 45 minute film on the life of William Randolph Hearst.  while waiting for it to began, Steve treated us to our "gourmet" lunch of a pretzel and drink that we shared.  Nothing is too much for Steve!  We had guests that joined our table...the biggest black crows I've ever seen!

More beautiful views once we got back on the road going up Hwy 1--the Pacific Coast Highway.  

These elephant seals look like they are not alive, but they really are.  We read that this is their "quiet" month and that they sleep most of this month away.  Sounds like a plan to me.  We also watched them use their flippers to flip sand onto their bodies, but apparently the researchers still don't know why they do this.

Mountains got higher and the waves got bigger.  Roads got curvier and closer to the walls of these mountains.

A little dark, now that I look at it, but I love this shot anyway.

And the day would not be complete, and I might not have gotten to Monterey without the stop for crackers and sprite.  Oh goodness, I was feeling green after all of those roads through the mountains!  Steve drove so that I could navigate, but I'm thinking we may need a new plan tomorrow.  Arrived safely in Monterey, staying at the Mariposa Inn.  It was small but very nice (and clean, as my mom would say).  It was after dark, so we decided to try to find a place to eat. Monterey Cookhouse.  It was just the best place to eat that we have found so far.  We decided to split a giant sampler platter along with a Caesar salad.  And then we decided to split a Creme Brulee for dessert.  After we returned to our hotel, we decided to be brave and try out the outdoor hot tub.  It was okay--nothing to die for---but it felt good and we had it to ourselves.  Such a long day, but so many memories packed away.  We both passed out even without air conditioning, which we have found that many places don't have because they typically don't need it!

Only problem has been that my Iphone lost the camera app.  I don't know how or when it happened or even where to look for it.  I downloaded a different one from the app store for free, but it doesn't allow me to send my photos by text.  This will have to get repaired when I get time back in Arkansas.  The other disappointment in technology has been our faithful Garmin GPS.  We came ready to use it so that my phone didn't have to be tied up mapping our way.  But old Garmin is having some growing, age pains I think and has difficulty recognizing our current location....making finding a new destination unreliable as well.  Oh dear...how did people do it when all they had was a paper map???
Monterey Bay here we come!