Hearst Castle - Central Coast - San Simeon Ca

For those of you who have never been here, it really is a castle. Some say it was complete folly. Call it what you will, but it is amazing. I won't waste your time with a page full of information about the castle, or relating to William Randolph Hearst and his publishing empire. I will give you a couple of links to those things. Also, do you remember Patty Hearst, and/or the Symbionese Liberation Army? Please don't feel pressured to follow the links! 

Links: Hearst Castle website.  
Wikipedia   
W.R. Hearst (Wikipedia)
Symbionese Liberation Army and Patty Hearst (Wikipedia)
Many more photos are here. Most of them taken in areas not available on the public tours.

La Cuesta Encantada (The Enchanted Castle)

In today's dollars, this place cost more than a half billion dollars to build. It is 90,000 square feet in size, has 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, and 19 entertaining rooms. It also had the largest private zoo in the world, and over 100 acres of gardens. The wharf was built so ships could deliver building materials, and supplies to the site.

In my last post I pointed this place out. It was on the top of a hill in the distance. This is the opposite view. San Simeon Point is the land form in the upper right hand corner of this photo. The trail I was on, starts from the wharf (to the right of this golden lady's head), continues around the bay to the actual point, and then around the other side. The very little town of San Simeon was to the right of the wharf. Hearst built the wharf, the town, and planted every tree in sight. The castle is large enough to have 11 different tours available.

The golden lady is to the left of the stairs.

The Neptune Pool. 

One of the tour guides told me that people currently working here, are allowed to use this pool on "special" occasions. The pool is a bit over the top for my liking, but it sure is beautiful. There are many alabaster statues and sculptures around the property. Most of these photos were taken in the middle of the day, with very challenging lighting.  If you want really good photos of this place, there are probably a million of them you can access on Google. I'm sure I have better photos to replace some of these, but I can't find them.

Taken at distance with my phone. Not making excuses, just telling you why it sucks!

My favorite photo of the whole batch. It's peeking at us.

Ready, Aim...

Just because some people don't believe that woodpeckers like palm trees.

Stellar Jay

Pretty common in the west

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Crystal Cove Historic District - Laguna Beach Ca

The Crystal Cove Historic District is a small part (12 acres) of Crystal Cove State Park. It consists of 46 beach cottages built mostly in the early part of the last century.  They were built primarily from wood made available when a lumber ship capsized in the area. It is one of the only remaining Southern California beach developments from early last century. It is located on a beautiful stretch of SoCal coastline, and several silent movies were filmed here in the 1920's.

This was private property until the state purchased it in 1979. People were in a bit of an uproar, because they thought the state was going to demolish all the cottages. They didn't though! In fact, the state, along with the Crystal Cove Conservancy, began a restoration project of the cottages. So far, 21 cottages are now available for overnight rental. There is a lot more information available, but I think what I just said, is just about all you need.  I apologize in advance for the poor quality of some of these photos. It was the middle of a very hazy day and the light was brutal. I would have been better off using the camera on my phone.

Judging by the cars. I'd say this photo (which I found on the CA State Parks website) was taken in the early 1940's. Even though most of the structures you see here are not in good shape today...

...most of them still stand.  The cottages in the foreground have been restored to original. This photo is from the same place as the previous one. 

The following photos are just a small part of what is left. There is also a second tier of cottages.

 There has to be at least one B&W

This is one of the restored cottages

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Critters We Saw This Week

Ground squirrel. Not too popular because they undermine hillsides. Pretty darn cute though!

As the crow flies (or gull), we weren't that far from the ocean.

I don't know what he was. If you can spot him in this photo, maybe you know.

A shop in Julian had 5 hummingbird feeders out and all of them were being used.

A cottontail who didn't seem to mind me very much.

A crow riding the thermals. It may have been a raven, he was too high for me to really know.

A Horny Toad. They really aren't a "toad" at all, but a lizard. These guys are said to be able to squirt blood from their eyes (into yours) from five feet away. I don't know if that is fact or fable.

Red Headed Woodpeckers. These are guys who make thousands of holes in trees and then put acorns in the holes.

A covey of Quail at one of the camp sites.

Although my friend's dog is not a "wild" animal, he is one heck of a tether ball player. I've never seen a Boston Terrier jump as high as this guy can. Chuck (apocalypse now), this pic is for you! 

Those woodpeckers peck on everything. We were battling one who was trying to peck a whole in the roof of our RV!

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I also saw some deer and cottontails, but couldn't get a decent shot at them!

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