Day 5 - Magnificent Hearst Castle

VM:  WOW. Yosemite was natural beauty and Hearst Castle is man-made beauty.  Hearst was a dichotomy of a man.  A media mogul with a reputation for being ruthless in business but at the same time, the son of a self-made Missouri-born dad and mom.  Love that.  His dad actually owned 390 square miles of CA at one point.  That boggles my mind.  

Hearst Castle was influenced by Italian and 

Spanish architecture.

Hearst was really fascinating and his vision was truly amazing. There were many things that impressed me, but as a female creator, I loved the fact that he paired with a female architect to bring Hearst Castle to life.  And not just any female architect, but the first female architect in CA.  Very cool and very ahead of the time.  Together, they tinkered and built Hearst Castle for nearly 30 years, never finishing it.  His “summer” house is truly unbelievable with more than 100 rooms. 

The girls’ favorite part was definitely the ornate indoor pool and his complete movie theater.  They were both really something.  

The flowers were out-of-control at Hearst Castle.  Simply breathtaking.

The famed outdoor pool at the castle.  

After the castle, we drove up the shore to see elephant seals lounging by the sea.  Reminded us a lot of Millie & Maggie (especially Millie), barely able to lift their heads to see what’s happening. 

A cute pup greeted us at Linn's.

After much work getting himself to the shore, this HUGE elephant
seal male dug himself in for a nap.

We made an off-the-beaten-path discovery to Linn’s Farms in Cambria to buy a delicious homemade chicken pot pie and ollalieberry (a local treat which is somewhere between a raspberry/blackberry/dewberry) pie for dinner.  We enjoyed it back at our adopted apartment with our adopted cat, Cali. Delicious.

Our adopted kitty, Cali, enjoying a bowl of milk.

Sunset over "our" vineyard.

Girls ended their day up at our innkeepers’ house where they were invited to swim with their granddaughter.  JM and I enjoyed the hour break to drink wine provided by our hosts and watch the sunset over “our” vineyard.

Wednesday we head to Santa Barbara.

HM:  I really liked Hearst Castle.  It was really cool, especially the indoor pool.  I feel like Angelina Jolie cause my lips are really fat and swollen cause they are soooooo chapped.  I’m really tired.  Good nite.

VM NOTE: EM has passed out after a long day full of activities.  She’ll need to catch up on Wed.

A view of f the beautiful CA Central Coast.