Hearst Castle Tour 1

Friday after Lance's birthday we had breakfast at this very cute breakfast place called The Coffee Pot in Morro Bay. It was pretty cold and dreary that morning so we were hoping when we got up to the castle we would have a good view. The view up from the top of the hill is absolutely spacacular. This was definitely one of those things I remembered from my previous trips up to the hilltop and I was silently sending good thoughts to mother nature pleading for the rain clouds to move through so Lance and Wendy would get to witness the beauty of it all.

You park down at the visitor center and they have an observation area there where you can look up and see the castle. It's a 5 mile bus ride from the visitor center to the castle. Look closely at the top of the picture and you might be able to make it out.

When we got up to the hilltop castle we had a decent view. Not as good as if the sun was shining, but at least we could see the water. And what we didn't know is that this was going to be our best view of all 3 tours. It was still a breath taking view though!

These next few pictures are of the Neptune pool. This has to be my most favorite part of the whole castle. I love this pool. I've decided if someone ever gives me tons and tons of money, I am going to splurge on a pool just like the one Mr. Hearst built. The only thing I would change would be adding a diving board (which he actually had but the State of California has removed it. Probably for fear that some crazy tourist would run on it and jump in the pool....I'm just sayin!). When we got to the top of the hill, I was holding the camera and I started taking a few pictures of different things. Then it dawned on me! I gave the Lance the camera and told him to take pictures of things he thought were super cool. It was really fun every night to view the pictures he took and talk about them. I love seeing things through the eyes of someone who has never been! It sure does make the experience that much more exciting. Here are a few snapshots of things Lance found particularly interesting.

Every tour you go on takes you to the Neptune pool and the indoor pool. The indoor pool is absolutely beautiful as well. I remember as a kid taking the tours with my twin sister Cat discussing if we would rather have the indoor pool or the outdoor pool (like either was ever really a possibility, but hey, kids can dream can't they! And darnit we were dreaming big!). Finally in 2002 when I made this trip with my girlfriends I decided on the outside pool. But, I'm still in love with the indoor pool too. And here is why

The gold pieces are actual gold! So if you could go swimming in there you would actually be swimming in a gold plated pool! Sweet!Lance tried to be sneaky and take a picture of us on the way back down to the visitor center. And here is what you get when we know you are coming with the camera.....dorks!

There are a bunch of other pictures that hopefully this weekend we will get up loaded to Flickr. When we do I will put the link on the page so if you so desire, you can click through and see the other pictures that I didn't post.

Love,
Suzanne