MONDAY - Fortunately, today we only have 32-miles to travel to get to our next campsite at the Hearst San Simeon State Park in Cambria, CA.
Unfortunately, we have to first get THE POD safely out of the campground here in the Los Padres National Forest.
This first video is of me taking THE POD further into the campground to reach the turnaround at the end of the road and then return back down to the same campsite where I started from.
Once I made it around the loop I felt a whole lot more at ease, because in my mind, I was now headed in the correct direction and anyone else would have to yield the right of way to me. I just hope they felt the same way?
At the end of the video you'll see Tricia standing in the road to stop any traffic trying to go passed our campsite while I was on the road.
The second video starts 15-minutes after Tricia left our campsite to walk the 3/4-mile down to the entrance and once again stop any traffic that is trying to enter the campground before I get down to the bottom.
I told you in the previous post we had a plan and it worked out perfectly. Only one car came into the campground while I was getting ready to leave and Tricia asked the women to give me the message that she was the last car Tricia was going to let through and that now the road would be clear for travel.
I won't call these two videos exciting, but it was a rather harrowing experience in the moment.
But I love it when a plan comes together!
We left our campsite early today, around 8:30AM, to minimize the amount of traffic we might encounter during our campground exit plan and with only 32-miles to go we had to find somewhere along the road to spend 4-5 hours so we didn't arrive before our 2PM check-in time.
Below is a slideshow of our efforts to find such a place.
TRAVEL DAY
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The beginning of today's CA-1 coastal travels weren't exactly along the coast.
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This was the first place I thought we might be able to park, but it was a NO GO!
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It did have some pretty good scenery though!
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Our next attempt to pull off the road had a good view, but very dusty when the wind blew.
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We finally found a suitable spot and those trees on the right are in our next campground.
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We did have to watch and listen to the surf here for nearly 5-hours, how terrible for us.
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At 2:00PM sharp we pulled into our "almost" big enough campsite.
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I think we can make this work for our week long visit here.
TUESDAY - Today is our first full day here and at 8:30AM this morning we were already out and about sightseeing.
We have several sightseeing opportunities planned for this stop, but today we're getting the main activity out of the way first.
All of the different Hearst Castle Tours start at the Visitor Center, which is located nearly 1500' below the Hearst Castle estate located high up on a hill. You are transported up to the Castle from the Visitor Center by bus over a 5-mile long winding roadway.
The "Grand Rooms Tour" is suggested for first time visitors, which is why we selected it, and covers the living room, dining room, smoking parlor, billiards room and indoor pool. Roughly half our tour was spent outdoors among the gardens and stone and marble artwork from around the world.
Other tours are geared towards repeat visitors or persons with focused interests about the estate. Such tours include the "Upstairs Suites Tour" and the "Cottages & Kitchen Tour". Tours such as the "Designing the Dream Tour" and the "Julia Morgan Tour (Castle Architect)" focus on the architecture and engineering of the 28-year construction of the estate.
We arrived at 8:30AM when the Visitor Center first opened and received our wristbands that serve as tickets for the tour and entry to the 45-minute long documentary movie presented on a 50' tall screen.
We had time before the first movie at 9:00AM, so we checked out the small museum in the Visitor Center.
After the movie we got in line for our 10:20am tour, only to find out we were in the 10:00am line. Since the 10:00 tour bus wasn't sold out we were permitted to join the earlier tour.
HEARST CASTLE TOUR
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While waiting for the movie to begin we checked out this 1939 Fire Truck, one of two on the property used to fight potential fires on this remote hilltop.
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This one has been restored to like new condition (inside and out).
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I'm not sure of the status of the second truck?
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Cosmopolitan Pictures, owned by W.R. Hearst, was an American film company based in New York City from 1918 to 1923 and then in Hollywood until 1938.
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There were 12 of us who viewed the 9:00AM showing of the movie on the 50' tall screen. That left a few unoccupied seats in some of the less than desirable rows.
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The Hearst Castle as seen from the rear of the Visitor Center.
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Looking at the roadway from the back of the bus halfway up the hill.
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No, that's not the Castle! It's a 38-bedroom guest cottage (1 of 3).
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This outdoor pool went through three enlargements before being completed.
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Those 6 columns holding up the building in the center are several hundreds of years old...
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...just like these pillars, they are all part of the Hearst art collection.
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Quite a nice view from up here. Everything you can see is part of the Hearst Ranch.
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That is one of the towers of the Hearst Castle hidden behind the guest cottage's roof.
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There is nothing left plain or ordinary on this property. Everything is art!
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Just a bit of the extensive gardens found around the property.
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This is the front entrance to the guest house you saw before. We were told that if something looks gold, it probably is!
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I believe we were told this is a 16th Century marble piece from Italy.
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Another guest house entrance way and again more gold.
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Statue of "The Three Muses", or Greek Goddesses of Music, Poetry & Arts.
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A stone Greek sarcophagus is on display in front of the statue.
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That's quite a view of the Pacific Ocean from the lower outdoor balcony.
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This is the oldest piece of art on the property, estimated between 2000-3000 years old.
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There are four pieces to the ancient Egyptian collection.
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Now we're getting close to the front doors of the Castle.
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This fountain is what you first see upon opening the front doors from the inside.
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The ornate entrance of Hearst Castle with art pieces collected from around the world.
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Again, if it looks like gold, it probably is!
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So much to see, no wonder there is a fountain with benches out front.
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We were told that William Randolf made this tower his personal bedroom suite.
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Finally, we are out of the heat and in the living room found behind the front doors.
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Everywhere you look, from the floors to the walls to the ceiling, nothing but art.
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This person is touching up the gold leaf that has flaked off the column inside the door.
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Here the guide is explaining the meaning of the piece over the fireplace mantle.
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The number of pieces of art in this collection is unimaginable.
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From the pictures, to the tapestries, to the carved wooden ceiling panels.
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Time to exit the living room and I guess the guard is taking a visual inventory to make sure no one is taking home any unauthorized souvenirs.
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There appear to be no 20th Century pieces to be found in this collection.
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Now we've moved into the next room on the tour, the dining room.
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There are no chairs at either head of the table. Hearst preferred to sit among his guests.
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I can't imagine what the value of the pieces in this photo alone are worth.
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In the smoking parlor they have been painstakingly removing the nicotine stains...
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...from the elaborately tiled ceilings.
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The tapestries have also undergone a professional cleaning to remove the nicotine stains.
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Next to the smoking parlor is the billiards room of course.
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I believe we were told this is one of the oldest tapestries and Hearst's favorite.
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Tricia always hangs out at the end of the tour group to take these photos without people.
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This theater room was used to show guests currently unreleased movies for them to critique.
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Today we watched a short movie of old photos taken during construction of the Castle. This one has William Randolf Hearst along with his photoshy architect Julia Morgan.
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Even in this room there was scaffolding in place for future restorations.
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The inside portion of our tour is near complete as we exit the side of the Castle.
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Two full sized outdoor tennis courts can be found in the rear of the Castle...
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...in addition to the indoor swimming pool.
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Again, if it looks gold, it probably is gold.
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Even the stairs used to enter and exit the pool are Italian marble.
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There is a second floor open balcony used to dive into the 10' deep pool.
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Time to load back up on the bus and return to the Visitor Center...
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...using the only road within sight. On the right you can see the runway used to fly guests in for a visit.
After our tour we returned to the Visitor Center and grabbed a quick lunch at The Chief's Galley snack bar. I picked out a Pulled Pork Sandwich with fries and Tricia had a slice of Cheese Pizza.
We've got 5-miles of coastal highway between here and our campsite with a half dozen "Vista View" pullouts along the road to check out the surf, plus the San Simeon Pier in the William Randolph Hearst Memorial Beach located just across the highway from the Visitor Center.
PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY THE 5-MILES OF COAST BETWEEN SAN SIMEON AND CAMBRIA
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The short pier was an easy way to get a view of the shoreline from out over the water.
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The 3-people around the yellow surfboard are firefighters practicing their off shore rescues.
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All the land you can see is owned by the Hearst Family.
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Just to the right of the near trees you can see the Hearst Castle up on the hill.
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Now can you see it?
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How about now? Tricia just loves showing off her phone's zoom capabilities.
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Taking time to just watch the surf roll in.
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Here I am patiently waiting for Tricia to take this next photo...
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...and the next two videos. You can still see the pier in the background.
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These California Ground Squirrels are everywhere along this coastline.
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A few miles further south along the road was this Vista View pullout.
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This driftwood covered beach is right across the street from the campground.
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One of the few places we've seen today along the shore with any shade.
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This is the northern end of Moonstone Beach located just off the PCH.
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There is a small community here with a 1.7-mile long boardwalk along the shore.
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From here you can see the RVs at Leffingwell Landing Park.
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The sand here is darker, not quite black, thanks to the volcanic rock.
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The beach along the boardwalk is off limits to people.
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Yes those were heart shaped padlocks you saw in the previous photo.
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WEDNESDAY - Last week when we were driving to catch the pre-dawn ferry out to the Channel Islands National Park I noticed that ROVER's headlights weren't lighting up the highway like they're supposed to. With all the excitement of visiting another one of our National Parks, by the end of the day it had completely slipped my mind.
We seldom drive before sunrise, and never plan to be out after dark, so it just didn't become a high piority in my mind to check what was wrong.
When Tricia was standing in the road in front of our campsite Monday morning as we prepared to leave, to hold up any oncoming traffic, she noticed that one of our headlights was working when I approached her. That immediately brought back the memory that I needed to check out what was wrong.
After our sightseeing yesterday we went into town to fill up our drinking water bottles and I then went to the NAPA Auto Parts Store to buy a new headlamp bulb. My intention was to replace the bulb myself when we got home.
When we arrived back at the campsite I popped the hood and started figuring out how to get to the bulb so I could replace it. From under the hood I thought maybe I would have to remove the battery to get to it, but before I went to all that trouble I looked up how to access it on YouTube.
Turns out you have to first remove the wheel well liner and then a dust cover attached to the back of the headlamp. You don't even have to have the hood up to make the repair, who would have figured that?
Very quickly I determined this was not going to be something I took care of myself and made an appointment at the only auto repair business here in Cambria. They were able to squeeze me in first thing this morning to make the 30-minute repair.
Overnight I thought about another couple of nagging problems they might be able to fix, so when I arrived I mentioned the additional items. The receptionist didn't seem happy to add to my requested repairs since she "squeezed" me in as a favor. While I waited I heard her repeatedly tell other customers on the phone that their next available appointment was 10-days away. That kind of made me feel bad for even asking, but she didn't say no.
The headlight repair did indeed get completed in less than a half hour. I then asked the mechanic about the additional repairs and was told that the other mechanic in the shop took care of those kind of repairs.
When I told the second mechanic about putting on the "oversized tires" and creating a rub when making a full turn in either direction he crawled under the truck while I turned the wheels to each side. He quickly found the problem. I installed an aftermarket front tow hitch on ROVER several years ago and that's what is rubbing. He said he could cut off the part that was rubbing the tire without destoying the hitch so I told him to go ahead.
It took him about 15-minutes to cut out the problem areas, grind it down smooth and then paint it black to seal it and keep it from rusting. I then mentioned that the "oversized tires" also have ruined the calibration of my speedometer and odometer readings. He hooked up a small handheld device, got into the truck's computer settings and changed it to the "new" tire size.
He told me that if I took the truck to FORD for repairs to mention the change to the settings, because their first line in trying to fix computer problems is to "flash" the computer back to original factory settings.
In less than an hour I was done and all my concerns were fixed. The bill? Only $150 labor, because I supplied them with the $20 bulb, plus I tipped each mechanic a $20 bill.
Before we do that, we have plenty of time to go into town and have breakfast. The highest rated breakfast location in Cambria is Linn's Restaurant, thanks in part to the extensive use of the unique olallieberry in their syrups, jams, jellies, and preserves.
Never heard of an olallieberry? Think of it as a unique cross between the blackberry and red raspberry, leaning more towards the tart raspberry flavor. I've had black raspberry jam before, which leans more towards the sweetness of the blackberry. I now prefer the olallieberry flavor which I used as a syrup on my whole wheat pancake this morning.
We also purchased an olallieberry muffin and a small jar of olallieberry seedless preserves to take home and enjoy later. Almost forgot, we purchased a small 5" olallieberry pie too!
With breakfast now taken care of we still had time to check out the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse's fresnel lens which is on display here in town after it was removed in 1949 because the lighthouse suffered irreparable earthquake damage.
You'll notice in our following photos that the lighthouse was left with a rather unique look after they removed the upper three stories of damage.
PIEDRAS BLANCAS LIGHT STATION TOUR
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This wall of plaques is at the base of the fresnel lens display in town.
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The light on the top story of the lighthouse was saved and moved into town.
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They even brought the mechanism that rotates the light into town.
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Unrelated, but if you're complaining about your price of gas, just remember you could be in downtown Cambria, CA today and paying these prices.
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Our meetup location for the light station tour was 1-1/5 miles north of the lighthouse.
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The dozen or so cars then caravaned down to the light station property.
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The entrance to the Piedras Blancas Light Station.
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With no fresh water here at the light station the water was trucked in and stored in the tower.
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The Piedras Blancas Lighthouse today, minus the top three stories.
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The larger building used to house the fog horns and related equipment
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The spanish words "piedras blancas" translates to english as "white rocks".
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Only the rocks aren't white! Only the outer "coating" is white...
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...from centuries of hundreds of thousands of large birds roosting here and a few elephant seals too apparently.
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These cars belong to other tour participants like us. We had so many people we had to be split into two groups.
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Nothing but sea water from here all the way to Hawaii.
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This is the bottom floor of the lighthouse, the only area open to the public.
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This is the rest of the Piedras Blancos Light Station.
Adjoining the southern border of the Piedras Blancas Light Station property is the northern border of the Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery.
To be completely honest, most of the following photos were taken while we were still on the light station tour, especially the pup nursery photos since they were located further from where the public could get close to them.
PIEDRAS BLANCAS ELEPHANT SEAL ROOKERY
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This section of the beach is being used as a nursery for the moms and pups.
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Most of these pups were just born in late January.
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Over the next few months the young pups will be teaching themselves to swim.
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This guy seems to be a little bit shy of going into the water...
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...while all the others are having a good time learning to swim.
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Here the mothers rest up getting ready for the next feeding time...
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...while the pups are out working up an appetite.
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These two better get with the program because soon they'll have to feed themselves.
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A face only a mother could love.
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Adult males are 14-16 feet in length and 4,000-5,000 pounds in weight. The females are much smaller at about 9-12 feet in length and weigh 900-1,800 pounds. Pups are 3-4 feet long at birth and weigh about 70 pounds.
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All of the previous photos and videos were taken from the light station property. We have now moved over to the boardwalk at the rookery.
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The Piedras Blancas Rookery is the only elephant seal rookery in the world that is easily accessible, free, and open to the public every day of the year.
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Time to head back home and get some lunch.
FRIDAY - Not a whole lot planned for today, Tricia took ROVER 18-miles south to the town of Cayucos to do laundry.
While she was taking care of laundry chores I stayed back in THE POD and spent "all day" trying to get caught up with creating this blogpost.
FYI - I'm still woefully behind!
I have hope this will be ready to post when we leave for our new location on Monday morning.
SATURDAY - We've got a big drive planned for today.
We are taking ROVER and heading nearly 50-miles north up the California Coast to check out all the places we shouldn't go with THE POD.
The 94-miles of the PCH between San Simeon and Monterey is a very winding, twisting, roller-coaster of a ride where semi-trucks are prohibited and larger travel trailer are highly discouraged from traveling.
On February 9, 2024 a huge landslide closed a 6.8-mile segment of the road. After nearly 2-years it was finally reopened to through traffic on January 14, 2026 only to be reclosed in February after another violent storm washed debris from the hills down onto the roadway.
I'm just glad today the weather is nice and the road is open. We are only checking out the lower half of the 94-miles today and will check out the upper half when we later arrive in Monterey.
PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY THE 47-MILES OF COAST BETWEEN PIEDRAS BLANCAS ELEPHANT SEAL ROOKERY AND McWAY FALLS (IN BIG SUR)
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Many times along this stretch of road there are valleys that come right down to the shoreline. When this occurs you either bring the road up into the valley for a short distance or sometimes you have to build a very tall and long bridge to straddle the gap.
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When the road detours into the valley there's an opportunity to exit the car, stretch your legs and get up close with the flowers.
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Some of these Coastal Morning Glories have yet to open up this early.
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While others are wide awake and ready for the new day.
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If you saw what's holding the road up you might change your mind about driving upon it.
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It's a long way down in most loctions.
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Coming up is one of the smaller and older slides along the road.
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The views along the road are well worth the effort it takes to see them.
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Hey look! There's a way to get down to the beach here at the Willow Creek viewpoint. Let's go! There looks to be room for one more down there.
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There's a road that passes under the bridge to get down to the shoreline.
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Another location where there was a road down to the shoreline.
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Here we saw a lone surfer out there "doin' his thang".
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Here he was preparing to duck back into the curl.
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I don't know if I'd go out there with all those submerged rocks.
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This guy seemed pretty comfortable out there all by himself.
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Hey I see another road down to the shoreline up ahead and I think there are bathrooms!
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That's Mill Creek as it runs down out of the mountains and straight into the ocean.
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We watched the surf here at Mill Creek and used the bathrooms too.
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Another slide area, but still not the big one that recently closed the road for two years.
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We saw several suicidal bike riders along this road today with blind curves and no shoulders.
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We came around a curve and saw the Regent's Slide up ahead, it was impossible to miss.
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I can't imagine the amount of dirt and rock that slid off that mountain and into the sea.
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Fortunately it missed taking out the Big Creek Bridge just north of the impact zone.
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The ocean water is still all muddy along the nearby coast from the slide.
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Tricia took a walk out on the side of the road to take these next few photos.
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They packed dirt and rock below the roadway, but it looks to be separating already.
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I wouldn't want to be underneath that when it all let loose.
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I don't know how much more damage this section can survive.
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Still a lot of mud in the water directly below the slide.
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We've still got eight more miles to reach our turnaround spot at McWay Falls.
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This is McWay Cove located in the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. Check out the 80' tall waterfall that plunges directly into the Pacific Ocean.
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This is what we drove all the way up here to see, along with the rest of the coast of course.
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We've turned around now and headed back south passed another soon to be white rock.
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They've already got the top pretty much covered, just need to let it drip down the sides.
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I just love watching the water swirl around the exposed rocks.
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At 12:30AM there's still a bit of a haze in the air.
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There is a small pullout at the north end of the Big Creek Bridge.
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It's not as famous as the Bixby Bridge, which we'll see next week on the northern drive.
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Here they've install heavy duty metal mesh screen to keep rocks from the roadway.
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Now that's a beautifully empty beach and darn it, I have no idea where it is...
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...but I bet that helicopter crew could easily land me there if I asked nicely.
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Once again, the Regent's Slide, still visible from even farther away.
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This is identified on Google Maps as Gamboa Point.
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This location is where all northbound traffic was turned around for nearly two years.
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This short tunnel is identified as Rain Rocks Rock Shed on Google Maps?
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It's now our turn to drive under it again, this time heading south.
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We were not expecting it when we were headed north earlier today.
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Halfway through!
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The south side in the sunlight is much prettier.
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That's the Mill Creek Bridge where we stopped earlier to use the bathrooms.
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This is the Los Padres National Forest's Kirk Creek Campground that's open year round, but impossible to get a reservation as all 33 sites are booked every day 6 months in advance.
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Still 40-miles from home, let's keep going.
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The bees sure did like these Sea Fig flowers, but...
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...seemed the have no interest in these Calla Lily flowers.
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Now that's one stubborn tree trying to grow out there.
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Another one of those offshore "piedras blancas" in the making.
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There are the culprits now, looking for another rock to color.
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Here they are literally "shoring up" the shoreline to help prevent any land slides.
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Here we are, back at the elephant seal rookery, because you can never have too many elephant seal photos.
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I'm not sure I understand the interaction between these two females, friendly or fighting?
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To me this looks like tail, body and head tracks from rolling down a hill. Tricia claims it's flipper and body tracks from crawling up the beach. What do you think? Keep in mind she's the one that saw it happening.
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This poor little pup looks exhausted after making its way up on the beach to join the others.
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Here's one of the smaller male elephant seals, but make no mistake, he's all male.
At one point today when Tricia was outside of ROVER and getting the closeup photos of the big slide area I stayed back and waited inside of ROVER.
That's when a convertible Porshe and a convertible Ferrari came through the slide zone and pulled off the road right next to me. I watched as the Ferrari driver stopped and was just sitting there fiddling with something in his lap. I thought that was kind of sketchy at first, but soon I realized what he was playing with. My dashcam caught the whole scene!
In case you missed it, he was flying a drone above his car while crossing in front of the slide and then pulled over to retrieve it. At first he reached up while seated in the car, but the drone backed off out of his reach, probably had his collision avoidance turned on.
He then exited the car and reached up and plucked it out of the sky. Turning it upside down is the safest way to stop the propellers from spinning. Once he had everything safely put away in the car and pulled forward and we both got a laugh when I told him I caught the whole thing on my dashcam.
If you missed any of the action you can click the full frame button on the right-hand bottom-side of the window and watch as the drone comes into view the same time that the white van does.
Tricia soon returned to the truck and then it was our turn to drive across the front of the slide.
SUNDAY - This morning Tricia was up early and went out to check on the tidepools over on Moonstone Beach.
Low tide today is at 7:35AM, so she left at around 6:30AM to arrive at the prime viewing time.
While she was out gathering more photos and stories to share, I was feverishly working on selecting the best 63 photos and videos from yesterday's hundreds I had to chose from.
She did come back home around 10:30AM with some delicious croissants and quiche from the local bakery, so this one time I'll forgive her.
It's now 5:30PM and I've been working on this blogpost nearly nonstop since 8:00AM, but it's done, and now I can enjoy my dinner. Shortly after the first bite I remembered Tricia went tidepoolng this morning, she couldn't possibly have taken too many photos and videos worth sharing, could she?
Here's your answer!
TIDEPOOLING AT MOONSTONE BEACH
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Tricia arrived at the stairs down to the tidepools at 7:00AM.
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It was still a little dark outside, but there was no glare on the water.
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The sea anenome seems to be a pretty common item on this coast.
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These snail like shells are something we haven't seen before.
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If you have any doubt there are living creatures in the water just watch.
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There seemed to be fewer mussels here at this beach...
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...even though there are plenty of rocks for the mussels to adhere to.
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First this crab was chewing on the vegetation, then started to pick at that snail shell, but when it looked up and saw Tricia hovering over it it took off to hide under a rock.
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This photo has a little bit of everything.
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One of the larger sea anenomes that Tricia saw today.
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There were also plenty of these smaller fingernail sized anenomes too.
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Here's a little bit of the wave action just after sunrise this morning.
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I wonder what causes all these holes in the soft rock here.
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That's a new one. I believe it's called a Circled Rocksnail.
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It's getting crowded here, time to go.
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Instead of going home Trica called her friend in Florida to "walk and talk".
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Along the entire 1-mile long boardwalk there is plenty to see.
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This tree looks kind of spooky from the shaded side, but...
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...looks very inviting from the sunny side?
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I believe these are green first, before they turn brown like we saw previously. I also wonder if there is a bright color in between these two stages.
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These cormorants and sea gulls seem to be sharing the rock without issues.
Now it's 7:30PM and once again I'm done with this post, except for having Tricia proofread it. That can wait until early in the morning, we're not leaving until 9:00AM to drive 3-hours (131-miles) to our next destination. Oh yeah, we'll have to stop for gas and groceries along the way, so make that 4-hours tomorrow.
Darn it! Who said, "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today"? TRICIA! Time to go to work. (P.S. - It's now 8:45PM)
Looking for our Visited States Map and Data? How about our State by State Bucket Lists or Visited Campgrounds List? If so, click on the sign below to be taken to our other website.
The beginning of today's CA-1 coastal travels weren't exactly along the coast.
This was the first place I thought we might be able to park, but it was a NO GO!
It did have some pretty good scenery though!
Our next attempt to pull off the road had a good view, but very dusty when the wind blew.
We finally found a suitable spot and those trees on the right are in our next campground.
At 2:00PM sharp we pulled into our "almost" big enough campsite.
I think we can make this work for our week long visit here.
While waiting for the movie to begin we checked out this 1939 Fire Truck,
This one has been restored to like new condition (inside and out).
I'm not sure of the status of the second truck?
Cosmopolitan Pictures, owned by W.R. Hearst, was an American film company based in
There were 12 of us who viewed the 9:00AM showing of the movie on the 50' tall screen.
The Hearst Castle as seen from the rear of the Visitor Center.
Looking at the roadway from the back of the bus halfway up the hill.
No, that's not the Castle! It's a 38-bedroom guest cottage (1 of 3). 
This outdoor pool went through three enlargements before being completed.
Those 6 columns holding up the building in the center are several hundreds of years old...
...just like these pillars, they are all part of the Hearst art collection.
Quite a nice view from up here. Everything you can see is part of the Hearst Ranch.
That is one of the towers of the Hearst Castle hidden behind the guest cottage's roof.
There is nothing left plain or ordinary on this property. Everything is art!
Just a bit of the extensive gardens found around the property.
This is the front entrance to the guest house you saw before.
I believe we were told this is a 16th Century marble piece from Italy.
Another guest house entrance way and again more gold.
Statue of "The Three Muses", or Greek Goddesses of Music, Poetry & Arts.
A stone Greek sarcophagus is on display in front of the statue.
That's quite a view of the Pacific Ocean from the lower outdoor balcony.
This is the oldest piece of art on the property, estimated between 2000-3000 years old.
There are four pieces to the ancient Egyptian collection.
Now we're getting close to the front doors of the Castle.
This fountain is what you first see upon opening the front doors from the inside.
The ornate entrance of Hearst Castle with art pieces collected from around the world.
Again, if it looks like gold, it probably is!
So much to see, no wonder there is a fountain with benches out front.
We were told that William Randolf made this tower his personal bedroom suite.
Finally, we are out of the heat and in the living room found behind the front doors.
Everywhere you look, from the floors to the walls to the ceiling, nothing but art.
This person is touching up the gold leaf that has flaked off the column inside the door.
Here the guide is explaining the meaning of the piece over the fireplace mantle.
The number of pieces of art in this collection is unimaginable.
From the pictures, to the tapestries, to the carved wooden ceiling panels.
Time to exit the living room and I guess the guard is taking a visual inventory
There appear to be no 20th Century pieces to be found in this collection.
Now we've moved into the next room on the tour, the dining room.
There are no chairs at either head of the table. Hearst preferred to sit among his guests.
I can't imagine what the value of the pieces in this photo alone are worth.
In the smoking parlor they have been painstakingly removing the nicotine stains...
...from the elaborately tiled ceilings.
The tapestries have also undergone a professional cleaning to remove the nicotine stains.
Next to the smoking parlor is the billiards room of course.
I believe we were told this is one of the oldest tapestries and Hearst's favorite.
Tricia always hangs out at the end of the tour group to take these photos without people.
This theater room was used to show guests currently unreleased movies for them to critique.
Today we watched a short movie of old photos taken during construction of the Castle.
Even in this room there was scaffolding in place for future restorations.
The inside portion of our tour is near complete as we exit the side of the Castle.
Two full sized outdoor tennis courts can be found in the rear of the Castle...
...in addition to the indoor swimming pool.
Again, if it looks gold, it probably is gold.
Even the stairs used to enter and exit the pool are Italian marble.
There is a second floor open balcony used to dive into the 10' deep pool.
Time to load back up on the bus and return to the Visitor Center...
...using the only road within sight.
The short pier was an easy way to get a view of the shoreline from out over the water.
The 3-people around the yellow surfboard are firefighters practicing their off shore rescues.
All the land you can see is owned by the Hearst Family.
Just to the right of the near trees you can see the Hearst Castle up on the hill.
Now can you see it?
How about now? Tricia just loves showing off her phone's zoom capabilities.
Here I am patiently waiting for Tricia to take this next photo...
...and the next two videos. You can still see the pier in the background.
These California Ground Squirrels are everywhere along this coastline.
A few miles further south along the road was this Vista View pullout.
This driftwood covered beach is right across the street from the campground.
One of the few places we've seen today along the shore with any shade.
This is the northern end of Moonstone Beach located just off the PCH.
There is a small community here with a 1.7-mile long boardwalk along the shore.
From here you can see the RVs at Leffingwell Landing Park.
The sand here is darker, not quite black, thanks to the volcanic rock.
The beach along the boardwalk is off limits to people.
Yes those were heart shaped padlocks you saw in the previous photo.
This wall of plaques is at the base of the fresnel lens display in town.
The light on the top story of the lighthouse was saved and moved into town.
They even brought the mechanism that rotates the light into town.
Unrelated, but if you're complaining about your price of gas,
Our meetup location for the light station tour was 1-1/5 miles north of the lighthouse.
The dozen or so cars then caravaned down to the light station property.
The entrance to the Piedras Blancas Light Station.
With no fresh water here at the light station the water was trucked in and stored in the tower.
The Piedras Blancas Lighthouse today, minus the top three stories.
The larger building used to house the fog horns and related equipment
The spanish words "piedras blancas" translates to english as "white rocks".
Only the rocks aren't white! Only the outer "coating" is white...
...from centuries of hundreds of thousands of large birds roosting here
These cars belong to other tour participants like us.
Nothing but sea water from here all the way to Hawaii.
This is the bottom floor of the lighthouse, the only area open to the public.
This is the rest of the Piedras Blancos Light Station.
This section of the beach is being used as a nursery for the moms and pups.
Most of these pups were just born in late January.
This guy seems to be a little bit shy of going into the water...
...while all the others are having a good time learning to swim.
Here the mothers rest up getting ready for the next feeding time...
...while the pups are out working up an appetite.
A face only a mother could love.
All of the previous photos and videos were taken from the light station property.
The Piedras Blancas Rookery is the only elephant seal rookery in the world
Time to head back home and get some lunch.
Many times along this stretch of road there are valleys that come right down to the shoreline.
When the road detours into the valley there's an opportunity to exit the car,
Some of these Coastal Morning Glories have yet to open up this early.
While others are wide awake and ready for the new day.
If you saw what's holding the road up you might change your mind about driving upon it.
It's a long way down in most loctions.
Coming up is one of the smaller and older slides along the road.
The views along the road are well worth the effort it takes to see them.
Hey look! There's a way to get down to the beach here at the Willow Creek viewpoint.
There's a road that passes under the bridge to get down to the shoreline.
Another location where there was a road down to the shoreline.
Here we saw a lone surfer out there "doin' his thang".
Here he was preparing to duck back into the curl.
I don't know if I'd go out there with all those submerged rocks.
Hey I see another road down to the shoreline up ahead and I think there are bathrooms!
Another slide area, but still not the big one that recently closed the road for two years.
We saw several suicidal bike riders along this road today with blind curves and no shoulders.
We came around a curve and saw the Regent's Slide up ahead, it was impossible to miss.
I can't imagine the amount of dirt and rock that slid off that mountain and into the sea.
Fortunately it missed taking out the Big Creek Bridge just north of the impact zone.
The ocean water is still all muddy along the nearby coast from the slide.
Tricia took a walk out on the side of the road to take these next few photos.
They packed dirt and rock below the roadway, but it looks to be separating already.
I wouldn't want to be underneath that when it all let loose.
I don't know how much more damage this section can survive.
Still a lot of mud in the water directly below the slide.
We've still got eight more miles to reach our turnaround spot at McWay Falls.
This is McWay Cove located in the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.
We've turned around now and headed back south passed another soon to be white rock.
They've already got the top pretty much covered, just need to let it drip down the sides.
At 12:30AM there's still a bit of a haze in the air.
There is a small pullout at the north end of the Big Creek Bridge.
It's not as famous as the Bixby Bridge, which we'll see next week on the northern drive.
Here they've install heavy duty metal mesh screen to keep rocks from the roadway.
Now that's a beautifully empty beach and darn it, I have no idea where it is...
...but I bet that helicopter crew could easily land me there if I asked nicely.
Once again, the Regent's Slide, still visible from even farther away.
This is identified on Google Maps as Gamboa Point.
This location is where all northbound traffic was turned around for nearly two years.
This short tunnel is identified as Rain Rocks Rock Shed on Google Maps?
It's now our turn to drive under it again, this time heading south.
We were not expecting it when we were headed north earlier today.
Halfway through!
The south side in the sunlight is much prettier.
That's the Mill Creek Bridge where we stopped earlier to use the bathrooms.
This is the Los Padres National Forest's Kirk Creek Campground that's open year round,
Still 40-miles from home, let's keep going.
The bees sure did like these Sea Fig flowers, but...
...seemed the have no interest in these Calla Lily flowers.
Now that's one stubborn tree trying to grow out there.
Another one of those offshore "piedras blancas" in the making.
There are the culprits now, looking for another rock to color.
Here they are literally "shoring up" the shoreline to help prevent any land slides.
Here we are, back at the elephant seal rookery,
To me this looks like tail, body and head tracks from rolling down a hill.
Tricia arrived at the stairs down to the tidepools at 7:00AM.
It was still a little dark outside, but there was no glare on the water.
The sea anenome seems to be a pretty common item on this coast.
These snail like shells are something we haven't seen before.
There seemed to be fewer mussels here at this beach...
...even though there are plenty of rocks for the mussels to adhere to.
This photo has a little bit of everything.
One of the larger sea anenomes that Tricia saw today.
There were also plenty of these smaller fingernail sized anenomes too.
I wonder what causes all these holes in the soft rock here.
That's a new one. I believe it's called a Circled Rocksnail.
It's getting crowded here, time to go.
Instead of going home Trica called her friend in Florida to "walk and talk".
Along the entire 1-mile long boardwalk there is plenty to see.
This tree looks kind of spooky from the shaded side, but...
...looks very inviting from the sunny side?
I believe these are green first, before they turn brown like we saw previously.
These cormorants and sea gulls seem to be sharing the rock without issues.
