Day 5: Hearst Castle, Big Sur & Pebble Beach

We left the Apple Farm this morning with heavy hearts. It was such a neat little place to stay! We didn't go without visiting the bakery first, though! And even though it was only 7:00am, I couldn't resist their chocolate silk pie. But hey, it's our honeymoon! We're allowed pie for breakfast, right? Jason sure enjoyed his chocolate cheesecake pie, I'll tell you that much!

After breakfast, we made the short 1-mile drive to the San Luis Obispo Mission. The most endearing feature of this mission was the walkway to the church that was made of an old wood trellis covered with grape trees. It almost felt like we had stepped out of the U.S. and had been transported to Italy. 

This might be hard to believe, but this design is actually painted onto this wall, it is not the design of the wall itself. Most of the missions we have seen have some type of wall painting like this, which is magnificent. 

As with the othe rmissions we have seen, I stopped to light a candle here...

...and say a little prayer. 

 
After we left San Luis Obispo, we started the 40 mile drive north to Hearst Castle. It was actually kind of a chilly and gloomy morning. The sun wasn't up high enough yet to burn off the clouds, so our drive was kind of misty and grey.

We got to Hearst Castle at about 9:00am. Our tour wasn't until 10:00am, so we decided to bum around the visitor's center a little bit. We soon learned, though, that we could actually hop on an earlier tour, so we opted to head up to the castle at 9:20 and join a tour of only 8 other people. Usually, these tours have 55 to 60 people on them, so it was almost like we were on a private tour. Our guide, Patti, was really knowledgeable and was really good at her job. We did the "Grand Rooms" tour, which took us through 5 rooms in the main house of the complex. Again, it was like being transported out of CA and into some Chateau in the countryside of France. The art, the decor, the ceiling panels; everything about Hearst Castle was divine. Jason's favorite part of the complex was the Neptune pool, which is the outside pool you will see pictures of below. My favorite part was the Roman pool, which is the indoor pool in the complex located underneath the tennis courts. Something about this pool made me want to jump in and do some synchro! I told Patti, the tour guide this, and she said they often have synchro swimmers come as entertainment when they hold events at the pools. Man! How does someone get THAT job!?

The road up to the castle from the visitor's center.  

The living room. 

Ceilings in the living room. 

The dining room. 

Look! Blue and White china!!

The ceiling in the dining room. 

 

The ceiling in the billiards room. 

The light fixture in the theater

Neptune Pool

Neptune Pool

Roman Pool

Look at the bottom of the pool!!

A shallow gathering pool

After Hearts Castle, we headed up the coast towards Big Sur. We stopped in a few places along the way, including this little pier at the bottom of the hill where the castle was located. 

 Another stop on the way up the coast was Elephant Seal Lookout, which is a huge beach that has been preserved for the very large, very fat, very smelly, very loud elephant seals who live there. This time of the year, the seals are "molting", so they are just lying on the beach like they are dead. I would take that over the time of year when they are mating, though.

It's to see small, so if you clock on this photo, you will be able to better see just how many seals there are here. 

I couldn't resist the wildflowers here!! 

 Next we headed up through Big Sur, which was one of the most beautiful stretches of land I have ever seen in my life.

Our next stop was Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. This park has the ONLY waterfall in the United Stated which flows directly into the Pacific Ocean. When we came around the corner of a little hiking trail to see this waterfall, I lost my breath. I have been to a lot of places in my life, but this was absolutely the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life. Someday when I die, I would love to have my ashes spread in the creek that leads to this waterfall. Morbid, I know, but when you see the pictures and videos below, you will understand. Also note the number of different flowers we saw. These are all wildflowers which are blooming all up and down the coast right now. 

 After we left the Burns State Park, we started up the highway towards the Carmel Mission. On the way, we came across this little restaurant located right on the coast. We stopped to take some pictures, but decided to stay for lunch. I had the most delicious bowl of clam chowder here.

Looking back towards the restaurant from the lookout point. 

Around 4:30pm, we arrived at the Carmel Mission. This mission was definitely one of the oldest building we have seen so far. It is also the location of the final resting place of Father Junipier, who founded several of the missions on the California coast. One of the most emotional times of this tip for me so far was when we came upon a dedication plaque that was from the local chapter of the D.A.R. My Great-Aunt Doris, who passed about two weeks ago, would have just loved to hear about this monument. It was hard to think about the fact that I couldn't just call and tell her about it. There are pictures of the monument below. Another cool part of this mission was a stone talking about Pope John Paul II visit there in 1987. We also saw the final resting place of the founding priest. This mission was more historically rich than the others we have seen, yet it wasn't nearly as big as some of the others.

The most incredible nativity I have veer seen. 

The D.A.R. monument. 

Father Junipier

Just 2 miles north of this mission is the 17-mile drive around the Monterey Peninsula. On this drive, we saw some of the most beautiful beaches yet, and also drove past the Pebble Beach gold course. Right as we were wrapping up the 17th mile, we stumbled upon a Doe and her two fawns munching on the grass. They weren't scared of ua at all so we were able to get some cool pictures and video.

I decided to test the water out. It was COLD! 

The "Lone Cypress"

Around 7, we arrived at our hotel for the night, the Sea Breeze Inn & Cottages. It's not the most glamorous hotel of our trip, but it is very cozy and quaint, and you can tell it is a local spot. 

After checking in, we headed to downtown Monterey for a little dinner and came across a great place called the Cannery Row Brewery where Jason was able to watch the basketball game. Monterey is a beautiful place, and I would love to come back here in the winter when the Whales are often seen just off the coast. 

Tomorrow morning we are off to San Francisco!