Aug 28 Day 12

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Day 12, and today we head north up the Pacific Coast Highway. We left our hotel and headed for Morro Bay, where we got our first view of the ocean. Just a few more miles up the coast, we stopped to visit the Hearst Castle.

Hearst Castle is a National Historic Landmark mansion. It was designed by the only female architect in California at that time, Julia Morgan. The design and construction lasted 28 years, between 1919 and 1947. The castle was designed for newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. After Hearst's death, the Hearst Corporation donated the property to the state of California. Since that time it has been maintained as a state historic park where the estate, and its considerable collection of art and antiques, is open for public tours. Despite its location being far from any urban center, the site attracts about one million visitors per year.

Hearst Castle was built on Rancho Piedra Blanca that William Randolph Hearst's father, George Hearst, originally purchased in 1865. The younger Hearst grew fond of this site over many childhood family camping trips. He inherited the ranch, which had grown to 250,000 acres and fourteen miles of coastline, from his mother Phoebe Hearst in 1919. Although the large ranch already had a Victorian mansion, the location selected for Hearst Castle was undeveloped, atop a steep hill whose ascent was a dirt path accessible only by foot or on horseback over five miles of cutbacks.

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. Hearst shut down the zoo, and donated the animals to other area zoos, however, zebras and other exotic animals still roam the grounds. The castle is so large it was very difficult to photograph even the main entrance.

You were not allowed to use flash inside the castle. This was the only photo that came out very well. The castle is packed full of art work, sculptures, tapestries, etc.

The outdoor areas are full of fountains, and sculptures.

We saw this little fellow running around the flower beds.

Being located on a large hillside gives you great views of the ocean below.

The grounds are covered with lush gardens.

Even the walls along the walkways were covered in flowers.

Of course there were tennis courts. Hearst would often entertain at the castle, and would hire tennis pros from that time to give lessons to his guests. Here are some of the regular guests at Hearst Castle...

Ralph Bellamy, Charlie Chaplin, Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Cary Grant, Buster Keaton, Harpo Marx, Winston Churchill, Calvin Coolidge, Charles Lindbergh, Walt Disney, and Howard Hughes.

There are two pools at the castle, this one is outside, and is known as the Neptune pool. The pool is located near the edge of the hilltop, which offers an expansive vista of the mountains, ocean and the main house. The Neptune Pool patio features an ancient Roman temple front, transported wholesale from Europe and reconstructed at the site. Hearst was an inveterate tinkerer, and would tear down structures and rebuild them at a whim. For example, the Neptune Pool was rebuilt three times before Hearst was satisfied. As a consequence of Hearst's persistent design changes, the estate was never actually completed in his lifetime.

You can see more of the Roman structures around the pool below...

Then there is the indoor pool :)

The marble ladders in the indoor pool where magnificent.

After visiting the Hearst Castle, we got back on the road to head up the coast. As you move toward the North, the landscape becomes much more rugged, and mountainous.

The views along this area of the coastline are just amazing. Every corner you encounter reveals another Kodak moment. Lennie took so many photos it was difficult to decide what to post. I also try to limit the number of photos for each days page to somewhere around 20, this was really hard today.

More of the rugged terrain...

The only downside to travelling the PCH is the slow moving traffic you often encounter. There are pull outs, but some people think they need to putz along at 15 mph and hold up an entire line of traffic. It's difficult to cover 100 miles of shoreline at 15 mph :)

We reached the area known as Big Sur. You can see the Bixby Bridge, an open arch bridge, in the photo below.

Getting closer to the Bixby Bridge.

Just about to cross over the Bixby Bridge. Prior to the opening of the bridge in 1932, residents of the Big Sur area were virtually cut off during winter due to the often impassable Old Coast Road that led 11 miles (18 km) inland. At its completion, the bridge was the longest concrete arch span (at 320 feet) on the California State Highway System.

We continued to work our way along the PCH toward Carmel by the Sea and Monterey CA.

Another pretty area, I like the colorful cliffs, the vibrant blue water, and the large hillside that carries the roadway with continuously changing elevations.

We will continue to run the coast on Thursday as we head to San Francisco, but for tonight we head to the coastal city of Monterey CA. This is a shot of the Fisherman's Wharf area of Monterey.

Our hotel is in a perfect location, right down on Cannery Row. We have a balcony that looks right out into the ocean. There are tons of restaurants nearby, and the famous Monterey Aquarium is at the end of the street, less than one block away.

Tomorrow we will spend a full day in this area, before heading toward San Francisco on Thursday.

Today, we traveled 156  miles from San Luis Obispo CA to Monterey CA via PCH. This brings the trip total to 3408 miles. Below is a map of the route from today.