Tuesday, 6 May
Well, it is goodbye this morning to Daisy and Barbara who have to return to Palo Alto for work. In the mean time we head South along Highway 1 and its beautiful ocean views. Around Big Sur we see some more itneresting Bridges.
After a while we stop for a drink break.
They served nice looking breakfasts on the Balcony but we did not think that we needed it. We drive further down the Coast to go to our highlight destination for the day, Hearst Castle. We stop at a cafe across the way from the entrance, but it is not serving food today. So, instead we drive to the Visitor’s Centre. This building is absolutely huge and was not there last time I visited, perhaps 25 years earlier. Like many of the tourist destinations we visited it is packed with tourists, offseason no less. There is a cafeteria there which serves semi-reasonable fast food, I had a pre-made Cheeseburger. We then watch a 37 minute film on William Randolph Hearst and the building of the Castle. Some famous guests were shown in the movie including a very young looking Clark Gable.
We take the shuttle bus up to the top with some interesting commentary over the bus intercom. Last time I was here we saw Zebras and so on, but this time only cattle.
We go on two tours (1) the standard Grand Rooms and (2) tour of the upstairs bedrooms. They modified the tours a few years ago and they, especially the first, were not as good as my previous visit, even the tour guides said similar things. We don’t take any photos during the tours as they did not want flash photography. So refer:
There is no doubting that Hearst Castle is an amazing place with priceless artworks of all kinds everywhere. It is a reflect of Hearst’s fabulous wealth.
We depart San Simeon to travel to our resting destination for the night – Morro Bay. Pat is on the phone to the Motel and it appears that there is some kind of trouble. It turns out that the parking lot had been re-sealed with asphalt and we would not be able to drive on it. The girls go look at the rooms and they are not what we had in mind either, as they were well separated apart. One of the rooms would have worked out OK as it actually had two bedrooms but we had ordered and paid for two rooms. We debate in the car for a while and eventually the owner shows up. He is very accommodating and says he will do anything that we like. We decide we will cancel and the owner helps Tom get a refund from booking.com. We drive away to find another place but after several phone calls, there is nothing really suitable in town.
So what’s this about a Taco Truck moment? Readers may recall that we had one in Sonoma and we use the term to mean good luck after misfortune or something like that. We decide to go back to the Motel that we had cancelled and see if we could get the room with the two bedrooms. YES! and it is a cost saving of 40% over the original reservation and there is another benefit tomorrow. We move our stuff into the room, but I am not allowed to carry anything and am supported by the two girls as when negotiating with the Motel, Tom and Pat indicated that I was a frail old cripple, maybe they were right. All’s well that ends well.
Pat has made a reservation at the #1 ranked restaurant in Morro Bay.
The restaurant is quite full with some locals close by. These locals help guide our selections for food.
While waiting for the main courses, the Girls go out to take photos of the Rock.
The main courses arrive.
See, there really were Tacos in the day!
We go back to our Motel and crash out for the night.