May 23, 2007

May 23, 2007

Today we drove a half-hour north along the coast to San Simeon, CA. So far a lot of the route north has not been close enough to the shore to see the ocean. It hasn’t been the romantic drive along the coast I had imagined. Instead there are long stretches where we are within the coastal hills. It is definitely ranch country and if I didn’t know any better I would think we were back in Montana.

San Simeon is the site of the Hearst Castle. William Randolph Hearst built this mansion atop a peak here in the 1920’s and 30’s. Willie was the only son of George Hearst, who discovered the Comstock Lode in Nevada, the richest silver mine ever. Besides inheriting it all, Willie made his own fortune in the publishing business, so he had money to burn. In his will he donated this house to the state of California. We have a noon tour of the mansion. In the interim we watch an excellent movie of Hearst’s life in the visitor center. There is also a small museum. The tour lasts almost an hour and a half and covers the main parts of the house. For the diehard, there are three more tours covering the rest of the property. The house is pretty extravagant, constructed and furnished with some of the many antiquities that Hearst collected from Europe. The outdoor pool is something else. After construction Hearst invited many of Hollywood’s stars here for frequent parties with him and his longtime girlfriend Marion Davies. The wife didn’t like California and lived in New York. Tonight we are going to watch the movie “Citizen Kane” which was loosely based on Hearst’s life.

After the tour we drive a few miles north to Point Piedras Blancas to view a horde of elephant seals. Elephant seals are much bigger cousins of the harbor seal and sea lion. The bulls have a large snout that resembles a short elephant trunk. They congregate on the beach at this time of year to molt and grow a new skin layer. We have a good time watching them. It is like watching the Animal Channel on TV. These seals are very territorial and are constantly wailing on their neighbor.

We are tiring of the cold damp weather so we turn the RV east and head inland. We stop at an RV park in Paso Robles in the coastal mountains. This apparently is wine country and there is a winery next door. After checking-in we hurry next-door to the Firestone Winery for a quick tasting. Greeting us is Andy Firestone who was the latest prize on the TV show, “The Bachelor”.