4th of July fell on a Thursday this year and my bosses gave me Friday off too, so I had to take the opportunity and hop on the road somewhere. Since I only found out in the last minute about my mini vacation I didn’t have a lot of time for planning; I quickly checked on some of the activities on my wish-list but they were all fully booked already, I talked myself out of going to Vegas because I’ll be going there at the end of summer plus have spent lots of time there in the past and eventually settled on a short road trip up north. My main destination was Hearst Castle in San Simeon and also stopped on the way in Solvang and Morro Bay.
It was a good thing I had bought my tickets for the tours on-line the day before because all the tours were sold out when I got there. I found this out as I had a much faster drive than expected and tried to switch to an earlier tour. But it turned out just fine this way because I had time to take some pics of the area and watch the movie about Hearst Castle. It was very informative and it plays on a huge screen. I highly recommend you include it as part of your visit, especially if you are not familiar with the Hearst family history. It is free if you already have a ticket for a tour. Just go to the theater off of the right side of the lobby, opposite the spot where the buses load.
Parking is free in front of the Visitor Center and from there buses take visitors up to the castle. You can only take water with you from here on, but there is a food court inside the Visitor Center.
I decided on the tours for Casa Grande (the castle) the upstairs and downstairs; both were impressive! I can’t really say which one to choose out of these two because they are both worth seeing. The downstairs is definitely more castle like with all the formal rooms, however the upstairs is interesting too, with the different bedrooms, library, conference/office room.
After a tour one can walk around the property and take any bus back to the visitor center when ready or hang out till closing time and hop on the last bus.
The gardens are beautiful, lots of statues, the breathtaking views over the hills and out on San Simeon Bay and of course the Neptune pool. I cannot swim, but even I wished I was allowed to jump in that pool so badly! It is absolutely amazing!!!! Make sure to leave some time to chill around this gorgeous pool and take in the beauty surrounding it.
Before getting back on the bus be sure to go see the indoor pool as well, which is almost as stunning as the Neptune Pool. They have a tour just for the indoor pool, but since you can go see it anyway I’d say save your money for a tour of the main house, you can see most of the indoor pool by yourself.
I visited on a national holiday so it was no wonder it was packed, but as often lots of the tourists were European. There were many families with kids. As a long time nanny I can’t help but be automatically receptive of the interaction with children. While on the tour a little French girl kept whining, repeating the same phrase over and over again, the parents, as they often do in such situations, completely ignored her until her whining escalated to near screams at which point the father smacked her on the head. I cannot understand adults who ignore their children and then get frustrated when they scream; how would they like to have to repeat the same thing over and over again 10-20-30 times until they’re heard?
Apart from witnessing this, my visit to Hearst Castle was lovely, it is always uplifting to be in the presence of so much beauty and I was lucky to have two great tour guides, patient, funny and well informed.
