Hearst Castle and the Central Coast

Some of our great friends (Meaghan and Nolan) moved down to Paso Robles earlier this year and we have made it a habit to visit them every few months. This weekend we decided to visit Hearst Castle. Hearst Castle is a National and California Historical Landmark mansion located on the Central Coast of California. It was designed by architect Julia Morgan between 1919 and 1947 for newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. In 1957, the Hearst Corporation donated the property to the state of California and it has since been maintained as a state historic park where the estate.

The Casa Grande entrance (the main house entrance)
Living room all decked out for Christmas
Dinning room
Don't worry, you can even get ketchup and mustard here

Bath house
The Neptune Pool and ancient Roman temple which was
transported wholesale from Europe and reconstructed on site.

Looking up at the house

Amazing tiles from Italy and Greece



Beautiful succulents 

The Roman (indoor) Pool
After we finished up at Heast Castel, we headed over to see the elephant seal colony at Piedras Blancas at San Simeon.

On Sunday Nolan, Duane, Lizzy and I went out to visit Meaghan at work, Justin Winery in Paso. It was such a beautiful day for some wine tasting and a picnic before we headed back up to the bay.

Morning story time with Lizzy 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Willkommen Zurück Nach Zürich

Image
Well hello again Zürich. Nice to see you old friend! Only for 2 weeks and this time, but we do have a toddler in tow! Oh how things have changed: Example #1. An 11 hour flight is no longer my time to catch up on movies that I haven't seen in the past year, it is now, do anything and everything possible to keep the child quiet, preferably sleeping, so there isn't a viral video of us on the internet. He did pretty good on the flight. The first 2-3 hours were a little rough as it was 3 hours past his bedtime, he had benadryl, he was confined to a very very small area, wasn't allowed to walk around, and so much was going on around him. The kid was WIRED, BUT once I got him to sleep, he slept for 6 hours across us and was pretty good when he woke up. I will say that the highlight of the flight was when Grayson stood up on my lap and started loudly chanting "pee and poo" for all of our neighbors to hear. Duane and I laughed so hard we cried. (I might be really
Read more

My Second Homeland

Image
Germany. Last summer, my cou sin Florian emailed me that he and his long time girlfriend, Martina, were engaged. So amazing! Another excuse to go to Europe! I love those. Through planning and limited by PTO, I decided we would rent a car and explore the Bavarian Alps South of Munich and make our way to the Black Forest for our first traditional German wedding. Yesterday, Mom, John, Duane and I la nded in the second best city in the world, Munich (Fact: San Francisco is number one). Hello old frie nd. It has been far too long. Struggling, but desperately trying to stay awake, we made our way to our respective hotels just in time for a much needed shower. To accomplish not passing out at 7pm and inevitably making my jet lag unbearable for the next 5 days, we met up with my good friend Fabian for dinner and drinks in the student neighborhood around the University. Man, did I miss my German food and my friend.  Sunday was our only day in the city befor e Duane and I head south into th
Read more

My Catholic Pilgrimage

Image
I'm Catholic(ish). I was raised VERY catholic; church every Sunday, first communion, confession, Sunday school, observed lent (even the whole abstain from meat on Fridays part), christian summer camps, conformation, est. Now? Meh, not so much, BUT how could I come to Rome and NOT go to the Vatican?! During HOLY WEEK??? The Catholic guilt would be too much. With Grayson in tow and D's aversion to big crowds (it's weird Howard thing *COUGH* Carrie *COUGH*), we opted for the early entrance (7:15am) with breakfast. Post breakfast we were set free in the museums an hour early before the general public, so we dashed for the Sistine Chapel to avoid the crowds. It was awe inspiring. Stunning. Mind-blowing to think that it was painted in 4-years, by an inexperienced painter who was known for his sculptures. In summary, after spending all day at the Vatican, what I learned was the Vatican kicks ass at ceiling art. To be fair, the Church has never been know
Read more