California's Central Coast - Part 2 - Hearst Castle
We recently took a trip to California's Central Coast for a couple of days. We were experiencing our first real heat wave here in the Central Valley and decided a trip to the much cooler coast would be a good idea. The day time temperatures were going to break 100° for several days in a row. It's not unusual for us to head over to the coast when that happens. While it's over 100° here in the Central Valley it's usually in the 60's on the coast.
California's Central Coast stretches roughly from Santa Cruz in the north to Santa Barbara in the south. This particular trip we visited the area around Morro Bay in San Luis Obispo county. One of our stops on this trip was at Hearst Castle in San Simeon Ca. Hearst Castle is located on Highway 1 about 35 miles north of Morro Bay.
Hearst Castle is the former home of William Randolph Hearst. He was a famous and controversial figure of the early 20th century who made his fortune in newspapers, magazines, radio and movies among other endeavors. Hearst and his architect Julia Morgan began building the castle in 1919 and spent nearly 30 years constructing it. The Hearst family donated it to the state of California in 1958 and it was opened to the public on May 17th, 1958.
The estate consists of three cottages Casa Del Mar, Casa Del Monte, Casa Del Sol and the main house, Casa Grande. There are multiple tours available for Hearst Castle. The one we took included the grounds , the pools and part of the main house, Casa Grande.
At the visitors center, where you board the bus for the trip up to the castle (narrated by Alex Trebek) there is an interesting Hearst Museum. There are quite a few examples of Mr. Hearst's art collection at the visitors center museum. There is also food and coffee drinks available and of course a gift shop. I highly recommend a stop at Hearst Castle the next time you are traveling the Central Coast of California.
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