Day #48 - 4/29/2011 - Santa Monica to Monterey - 393 miles

You can see our route from Santa Monica to Monterey by way of the Hearst Castle here.

I don't think I'm ever happy to be leaving Santa Monica, but I did manage to end on a culinary high, stopping at Donut King for another chocolate chip bar.

When I walked into the Donut King, the chocolate chip bars were still in the oven.  The donut/pastry cook/chef/deity saw me and rushed out two fresh ones, placing them in a protective insulated case (see picture) and presented them to me.  Warm, fragrant, intoxicatingly chocolate...the thought still makes me smile.  I guess it's good I don't live in Santa Monica as this would become an hypercaloric habit.

Six weeks since I had last seen Russell and a month since seeing Susan, it was great having the two of them with us.

I don't know what's with the sunglasses, but at least Russell is smiling.  Sort of.

Coffee and chocolate chip bar in hand, we headed north on the Pacific Coast Highway, leaving Santa Monica, passing through Malibu towards San Simeon.


San Simeon, about halfway between LA and San Francisco, population 462, was Mexican territory that was sold in 1865 to George Hearst, the father of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst.  San Simeon is special because of what Publisher Hearst did with the land: he built a castle.

Visible from a distance, the castle has a commanding view of the coast.

Lani and Russell had been to the castle when they were children but had little recollection.  There are several different organized tours.  Susan and I had done the basic tour twice, but as it was essentially the first time for the kids, we opted for the intro tour again.  It is still way cool.

Casa del Sol, one of three guest houses at the Castle, has 8 bedrooms and 2604 square feet.  How many bedrooms does your guest house have?  Or, for that matter, the house you live in?

Construction on the Castle began in 1919 and continued through 1947 when Hearst stopped living at the estate due to ill health. 

The Neptune Pool looks like it would be at home next to the Roman Forum.

Hearst Castle featured 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, 19 sitting rooms, 127 acres of gardens, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, a movie theater, an airfield, and the world's largest private zoo.

This facade is actually part of an ancient Roman temple, transported from Europe.

Invitations to Hearst Castle were highly coveted during its heyday in the 1920s and '30s. The Hollywood and political elite often visited, usually flying into the estate's airfield or taking a private Hearst-owned train car from Los Angeles. Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, the Marx Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, James Stewart, Bob Hope, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill were among Hearst's A-list guests. 

Florida tourists at the Hearst Castle

In addition to the physical scope and grandeur of the castle is the unimaginable collection of art and antiquity transported from Europe and the Old World that was incorporated into the castle, such as the Roman columns by the Neptune Pool.  Every room was an art gallery and museum in its own right.

The ceiling of the dining room is from carved wood from 16th Century Spain and the tapestries date to the 15th century.

There are at least five separate tours of the Castle.  This was my third time on the "basic" tour...always impressive.  A visit here is a "must see" if you're along the California coast.


Continuing to Monterey, the coast highway was closed in two areas from landslides, so we turned in-land.  What should have been  a scenic 95 miles along the coast became a 150 mile trip through San Luis Obispo county and 50 miles of wine country on historic California highway 101.  Not as iconic as the Pacific Coast Highway hugging the Pacific, the vineyards and rolling hills made it a special trip.  There were enough wineries in the Paso Robles region to make it a tourist destination.  And, it is.


One highlight on the road trip to Monterey was a passing through the charming seaside town of Cambria, CA.  We stopped for lunch and would make an effort to come back.  Oddly, Bob has no pictures.


A few hours later, we landed in Monterey, CA and settled down.