"A politician will do anything to keep his job ---even become a patriot."
~William Randolph Hearst
"Truth is not only stranger than fiction, it is more interesting."
~William Randolph Hearst
"What ever you decide to do, make sure it makes you happy."
~Unknown
Happy Birthday Jenny !
While Tracy was on a trip to Ireland earlier this year, she texted many photos back home and Jenny seemed particularly interested in the castles. When I created my Updated Bucket List for Year 77 I planned to do something extra special for the girls birthdays (beyond the traditional family dinner) during this year. So I asked Jenny if a trip to tour Hearst Castle would be interesting to her. She seemed genuinely excited about that prospect so we planned such a trip for a time close to her November birthday. My idea was to have Bonnie and I, and our three daughters, do together whatever each of the girls wanted to do on their "Special Birthday." We will still have our traditional family birthday dinner for each of the girls and include our full family (and any friends invited) as always.
Unfortunately, Heather had a conflict and couldn't make the Hearst Castle trip with us. On the positive side, Quent and Barbara decided to come to Monrovia and spend a week with us. They joined us on the Hearst Castle trip and Ted & Dixie drove to San Simeon from Logan and toured the Castle with us also.
So Bonnie & I, with Jenny and Tracy rode in our car, and Quent & Barbara rode in their car. It would have been fun to all ride together, but neither of our cars would accommodate six people plus the required luggage for a 3-day trip. We left Monrovia on Friday morning, November 10th, and drove up the coast on Highway 101, stopping in Santa Barbara at Stearns Wharf for lunch at the Harbor Restaurant. Then we drove on to the seaside village of Cambria. We checked in at the Bluebird Inn, had a cocktail hour in the cozy lobby of the Inn, where we met up with Ted & Dixie and had a visit with them. Then we walked to the Moon Indigo Restaurant literally next door to the Inn, had a nice dinner, and ended the evening around the outside fire-pit at the Inn.
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A Little History About Hearst and Hearst Castle: The history of the Hearst Castle, and its creator William Randolph Hearst, is fascinating and extensive. I will give a brief history here, but anyone who wants more information can begin by going to the following websites: http://hearstcastle.org/ and
http://www.history.com/topics/william-randolph-hearst
William Randolph Hearst inherited the San Francisco Examiner from his millionaire father, George Hearst, and ultimately created the largest newspaper and magazine business in the world. He entered politics at the turn of the century, winning two terms to the U.S. House of Representatives, but failing in his bids to become U.S. president and mayor of New York City. At the age of 40, Hearst married Millicent Willson, a 21-year-old Chorus girl. Millicent separated from him in the mid-1920s after tiring of his longtime affair with Marion Davies, the popular film actress.
Hearst Castle's history actually began in 1865 when Hearst's father purchased 40,000 acres of ranchland near San Simeon, which Hearst eventually inherited. Hearst purchased more land over time and eventually the spread totaled about 250,000 acres.
At the age of 56, Hearst hired architect Julia Morgan to build a hilltop house on what he called his "ranch at San Simeon." Their collaboration on the project lasted from 1919 to 1947 and they formally named the estate "La Cuesta Encantada" - The Enchanted Hill. This great museum is filled with Egyptian, Greek, and Roman antiquities -- along with Old Master European paintings, sculptures, and decorative art; Chinese and Near Eastern art; and about thirty historic carved and painted ceilings from Renaissance Italy and Spain. The center piece of the estate is Casa Grande, which follows the Mediterranean Revival Style of the rest of the estate. The bell towers came from a cathedral in Rhonda Spain and overall the structure has a church-like appearance. It is made of poured concrete reinforced with steel and is approximately 68,500 square feet. It contains 115 rooms including 38 bedrooms, a library, movie theater, kitchen, and living quarters for the household staff. Surrounding Casa Grande are three cottages used to house guests and family, tennis courts which sit atop a beautiful indoor swimming pool, and the outside Neptune Pool. Hearst was known for demolishing completed buildings due to a change of mind - the final Neptune Pool is the last of three different pools built on the site.
Today Hearst Castle is a State Historical Monument, run by the California Park Service.
The Tour: Saturday morning we drove a short distance to San Simeon where we had reservations for the Grand Rooms Tour of Hearst Castle. The first two photos below are at the entry to the Visitors Center. The tour began by boarding a tour bus from the Visitors Center. The ride up the mountain to the castle is 4.6 miles and takes close to 20 minutes. As we rode I couldn't help remembering a comment by a lady I was sitting next to when we toured the castle seven years ago. She was getting tired of the curves in the road and the long ride and said, "I don't know why they didn't build the castle closer to the Visitors Center!" I don't know how you respond to a comment like that. The two photos in the 2nd row below show the Castle from the bus on the way up the mountain, and then the Visitors Center (on the ocean front) from the top at the Castle.
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One of the most interesting and beautiful areas at the Castle in my opinion is the Neptune Pool. Unfortunately for us the pool was under repair during our tour. The first three photos below are of the construction project. In the 2nd row, the first photo is how the pool looked before repair work began, then a photo of us taken with the pool superimposed in the background (pre-repair), and finally an aerial shot of the estate.
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When we went inside Casa Grande we began with the Assembly Room, then into the Dining Room, then the Morning Room, then the Recreation Room, and finally the Theater Room. The photos below are in this sequence (the 2nd photo is our group in the Assembly Room). In each room our tour guide gave an interesting summary about how the room was used, the art and sculptures, the history of many of the unusual furnishings, special people that may have visited the room, etc.
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After completing our tour inside the Castle, the tour guide suggested we walk around the grounds outside the buildings before catching the bus back to the Visitors Center. The photos below are representative of some of the sculptures and buildings. The last three photos on the bottom are the tennis courts and the indoor swimming pool, which is directly underneath the tennis courts.
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After the Tour: The photos below show our activities after the tour. First we stopped for a few minutes to view the Elephant Seals along the beach next to the Coast Highway, then we drove back to Cambria where we visited the quaint little Stolo Family Vineyard & Winery for a wine tasting (Mary, a friendly visitor, is with Barbara and Tracy). Later we walked to Linn's Restaurant in the center of town for a nice evening meal. It was a really fun and interesting day for all of us.
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On Sunday morning Ted & Dixie continued their trip toward San Francisco, and the rest of us headed toward Monrovia, going by way of the Danish Village of Solvang where we did some shopping and had lunch at Paula's Pancake House. On the final drive home, we joined a few million other folks returning from their Veterans Day holiday, but despite the long drive, everyone agreed it was a great weekend trip.
A Little Jenny History: Jenny was born in November in Logan, Utah. She was about two months premature and weighed just 3 pounds, 6 ounces. Medical procedures have improved over the years, but at that time and that weight she was given only a 50/50 chance to live. She showed her strength, strength that she still has today, and survived. Jenny was less than a year old when we moved to California, so she, like our other daughters, really is a California girl. A few of those early photos are below:
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Jenny has a neat family and a few photos of them are below:
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These are a few photos on special occasions:
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