Big Sur and San Simeon Got up early this
morning and headed off to see some serious coastline: we headed down past
Monterey and Carmel to Big Sur. After a slap up brunch we drove along the
coast, stopping at regular intervals to take photos, a brief stroll or a
longer walk in the woods. Finally, we arrived at Hearst Castle.
They don't really have castles over here, so
this is in fact a flashy house on a hill, built in the 1920s ! Actually, that
description kinda doesn't really capture it all; let's try again. Hearst
Castle was built by William Hearst on a high hill overlooking the pacific. The
castle, really more of a palace, is a spectacular display of extravagance,
featuring designs and artifacts from all over the world. During the 20's and
30's Hearst used to host an amazing set of guests at the Castle, including,
for example Johnny Weismuller who used to train in the swimming pool. Now the
castle is owned by the state and attracts over 1 million visitors a year. It's
so large it takes 4 * 2hour tours to see everything. We just did a single tour
of the grounds and one of the guest lodges and that was enough to appreciate
the splendour of the place. This is not a castle or historic monument in the
way we'd expect in Europe but at least it's a fitting demonstration that no
amount of money buys good taste :-)
After the castle we decided to see if we could
stay in the area and then head further down the coast on Sunday. In fact we
did just manage to get a motel room, but only at the last motel we tried.
Still, it was clean and comfy. We dumped our stuff and went to the beach to
watch the sunset, and I tried my hand at kite flying. We then headed into
Cambria for dinner.
Cambria is, or at least was, an artists colony.
Now it's really a quaint tourist town with a lot of art galleries. Of interest
to us though was a restaurant called, I kid you not, Robins Nest. I'd read a
review of it and was keen to try the food. Still, 8.30 on a Saturday night was
probably not the best time to try and get a table without a reservation. In
fact, we finally managed at 9.30 but the wait was well worth it. The food was
amazing and the atmosphere great. Moreover, the drinks while we waited were
free which was a nice surprise. However, best of all, was that while we waited
we looked around Cambria and I found a shop selling "Frog and Toad on the
Road" books. I always thought Jayne had made this saying up, so finding a
series of books by the same name was really great. Of course I had to buy one
!
After such a long day I can safely say I slept
very soundly that night.
11.6.00
Santa Barbara once again we got up
early - becoming something of a habit this - and jumped in the car. This
time we headed south down route 1 to Santa Barbara.
This is kind of like
Santa Cruz but without the boardwalk. The downtown is really nice, if a
little posh!, and the beach is predictably amazing.
We spent the afternoon
sitting in the sun watching a televised beach pole vaulting contest. This is
much like the concept behind beach volleyball, i.e. take a perfectly good
sport, make the contestants dress in swim suits and have them play it on the
beach. It works as well as beach volleyball for all the same reasons.
Finally we headed for home, a mere 5 hour
drive of about 300 miles. In fact the drive was a doddle, we got onto the
101 in the middle of Santa Barbara and got off the 101 about a mile from
home. Amazing. Slept soundly again :-)
17.6.00
Lake Tahoe Tour time again. This time
we decided to head for the hills and visit Lake Tahoe. In winter Lake Tahoe
is a skier's paradise, but in summer it's the home to hikers, mountain
bikers, water skiers etc. The lake itself is a huge glacial lake and the
region looks like a sort of Interlarken on steroids. We arrived early and
thought we'd see if we could get a camp site for the night, rather than
trying to stay in a motel. Despite not having booked we did manage to find
one in Bliss State Park, a very aptly named state park on the edge of the
lake.
Camping in the US seems to be quite a
different experience to Europe. Each pitch included bear lockers, a barbecue
site, a fire pit, car parking, picnic table and camp area. See the piccy
below for details.
Having pitched we headed off for a tour of
the lake and into South Tahoe. The lake was beautiful, but more about that
later. South Tahoe spans the California and Nevada borders and on the Nevada
side the casinos have taken root. In fact, these huge casino, hotel complexes
are within about 2 feet of the border and draw people over the state line
with the promise of easy winnings. In fact we did pretty well. We invested
about 30 dollars and got back about 21. For the nine dollars we lost we got
three hours of enjoyment and four free cocktails (free while you play :-).
Not bad I guess, though I did have a worrying tendency to enjoy myself just
a little too much !
Touring around the lake was great and we got
to go on a genuine Swiss cable car.
18.6.00
Lake Tahoe Today we went hiking around
the lake and saw some spectacular views, none of which we really managed to
capture on film :-( There are just a few pictures below and then some more on the
photo page.
24.6.00
Rest This weekend we just hung out and
rested - it's been a busy month and next month looks set to be just as
packed !
