We spent one night in Morro Bay, California. Arriving in the dark, we could hardly see the outline of the “pebble” that made this town famous. At daybreak we couldn’t believe our eyes. After breakfast Hilary and I headed 25 miles north to tour Hearst Castle, while Scott, Amber and Tyler headed toward the beach on bikes. The “pebble,” standing 480 feet tall, is actually a volcanic plug, and it towers over the buildings, over the sailboat masts, over the town.
As Hilary and I arrived at the castle, I discovered that my camera battery that read full the night before, didn’t have enough juice to even turn the camera on…How can I not take photos?
Here is a little bit of what we were able to capture with the camera on Hilary’s cell phone:
Surrounding the main residence (Casa Grande) are the three guest houses; La Casa del Sol, La Casa del Monte, and La Casa del Mar. We toured La Casa del Sol and parts of la Casa Grande. The estate includes 165 rooms and is too large to tour in one day. The main house has 38 bedrooms, and 42 bathrooms.
Willian Randolph Hearst was the son of a wealthy mining engineer, but independently made his fortune in newspapers, magazines, radio and film. He was kicked out of Harvard for being a prankster. The last straw might have been his purchase of ornate bed-pans for each of the chancellors and having each personalized with their names inside. He then hand delivered them…
The Neptune Pool
The columns on the Roman Temple that you see on the opposite side of the pool are 2000 years old. The columns to the right were made to match. He re-used, copied and re-purposed many parts (celings, doors, walls…) of this residence, importing many things from Italy, Greece, Spain and Egypt. Hearst’s guest list included Charlie Chaplin, Carey Grant, Joan Crawford, Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, Clark Gable, Bob Hope, Franklin Rooseveldt, and Winston Churchill…to name a few.
In 1957 the Hearst family donated the estate to the State of California. Maintaining the castle and grounds costs about $10,000,000.00 per year.
Hilary and I enjoyed our “girl-time” and the scenic drive along the coast back to Morro Bay to meet up with the rest of our gang, and then head south to our last stop in California.
Our WAY Big Adventure 