GoofyontheHiSeas
Do you know the Nutmeg Man.. The king of whats le
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- Apr 8, 2005
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Now that the kids are back in school I found some time to put together a short trip report of our trip up the central coast of California. Starting just north of LA proper it is a mere 2-3 hour drive up US101 to San Luis Obispo where you turn off to the beautiful Highway 1. It is only 120 miles between San Luis Obispo to Monterey but it will take you about 4 hours to drive. The road is only a two lane road with many twists and turns hugging the cliffs along the coast. I have been up and down this road a couple of times but never stopped and capture the beauty as we did this time.
Our first stop was San Simeon which is the home of the infamous Hearst Castle. William Randolf Hearst was an American newspaper magnate and leading newspaper publisher in the early 1900s and the inspiration for Orson Welles' classic film Citizen Kane. Hearst formally named the estate La Cuesta Encantada ('The Enchanted Slope'), but he usually just called it 'the ranch'. Beginning in 1919, Hearst began to build the never-completed Hearst Castle, on a 240,000-acre ranch. It is now part of the California State Park system. There is a wonderful visitor center that conducts a wide variety of tours of the property. First we went down to the coast to visit the San Simeon pier that Hearst build to accommodate his guest arriving by ships.
Being our first trip to the the Castle we took the introductory tour that hit many of the highlights of the propriety. We boarded the bus for the five mile trip from the visitor center to the castle. From the pictures that I looked at prior to leaving home I had decided that the property need to be shot very wide. I came to the conclusion that my Tokina 11-16 was not wide enough. Our first stop was the patio in front of the largest of two guest houses. The guest house to the right and the Neptune pool is ahead. The patio is decorated with Greek and Roman statues.
We then proceeded over to the Neptune Pool. Construction for the Neptune Pool spanned 1924-1936. Three swimming pools were built on this site, each successively larger. The present version of the pool was under construction from 1934-1936.This has to be one of the most beautiful pools that I have ever seen, well until we see the Roman Pool later. They were doing some renovation on the far pillars with scaffolding so I had to try to hide it with one of the columns. I should mention at this point that tripods and monopods are not allowed on the tours.
Walking up the stairs toward the man houses you can see the fountains that adorn the pool area.
We proceed to Casa Del Sol which is an 18-room guesthouse facing the majestic Pacific Coastline. We only toured the second floor which contained four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a sitting room.
One of the guest rooms. You will notice that Hearst had a fascination for ceilings. He imported many from Europe or had recreations made.
Here is another bedroom. Excuse the blown out windows since we were on the 2pm tour.
Here is the setting room.
Next we headed through the gardens toward the main house Casa Grande. This is a 3000 year old statue that was imported from Egypt.
This is the small pool in front of Casa Grande.
Inside we entered the Assembly Room which is the largest of the four sitting rooms and once a gathering place for Hearst's guests.
We then went into the Refectory which is the single dining room at Hearst Castle. It kind of reminded me of something out of Harry Potter.
We then traveled down to the tennis courts where underneath we found the Roman Pool. The Roman Pool at Hearst castle is a tiled indoor pool decorated with eight statues of Roman gods, goddesses and heroes. The Roman Pool is decorated from ceiling to floor with 1" square mosaic tiles. These glass tiles, called smalti, are either colored (mainly blue or orange) or are clear with fused gold inside. The intense colors and shimmering gold of the tiles combine to create a breathtaking effect.
This a look down the alcove. If you look you can see a diving platform over the entry to the alcove.
Overall this was just a fantastic oppertunity for taking amazing photos. Being my first trip I dont think I did to bad but have some new ideas when I visit again. If you are interested here is the link to Hearst Castle. I will finish up the next part when we drive up the coast to Monterey soon.
Our first stop was San Simeon which is the home of the infamous Hearst Castle. William Randolf Hearst was an American newspaper magnate and leading newspaper publisher in the early 1900s and the inspiration for Orson Welles' classic film Citizen Kane. Hearst formally named the estate La Cuesta Encantada ('The Enchanted Slope'), but he usually just called it 'the ranch'. Beginning in 1919, Hearst began to build the never-completed Hearst Castle, on a 240,000-acre ranch. It is now part of the California State Park system. There is a wonderful visitor center that conducts a wide variety of tours of the property. First we went down to the coast to visit the San Simeon pier that Hearst build to accommodate his guest arriving by ships.
Being our first trip to the the Castle we took the introductory tour that hit many of the highlights of the propriety. We boarded the bus for the five mile trip from the visitor center to the castle. From the pictures that I looked at prior to leaving home I had decided that the property need to be shot very wide. I came to the conclusion that my Tokina 11-16 was not wide enough. Our first stop was the patio in front of the largest of two guest houses. The guest house to the right and the Neptune pool is ahead. The patio is decorated with Greek and Roman statues.
We then proceeded over to the Neptune Pool. Construction for the Neptune Pool spanned 1924-1936. Three swimming pools were built on this site, each successively larger. The present version of the pool was under construction from 1934-1936.This has to be one of the most beautiful pools that I have ever seen, well until we see the Roman Pool later. They were doing some renovation on the far pillars with scaffolding so I had to try to hide it with one of the columns. I should mention at this point that tripods and monopods are not allowed on the tours.
Walking up the stairs toward the man houses you can see the fountains that adorn the pool area.
We proceed to Casa Del Sol which is an 18-room guesthouse facing the majestic Pacific Coastline. We only toured the second floor which contained four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a sitting room.
One of the guest rooms. You will notice that Hearst had a fascination for ceilings. He imported many from Europe or had recreations made.
Here is another bedroom. Excuse the blown out windows since we were on the 2pm tour.
Here is the setting room.
Next we headed through the gardens toward the main house Casa Grande. This is a 3000 year old statue that was imported from Egypt.
This is the small pool in front of Casa Grande.
Inside we entered the Assembly Room which is the largest of the four sitting rooms and once a gathering place for Hearst's guests.
We then went into the Refectory which is the single dining room at Hearst Castle. It kind of reminded me of something out of Harry Potter.
We then traveled down to the tennis courts where underneath we found the Roman Pool. The Roman Pool at Hearst castle is a tiled indoor pool decorated with eight statues of Roman gods, goddesses and heroes. The Roman Pool is decorated from ceiling to floor with 1" square mosaic tiles. These glass tiles, called smalti, are either colored (mainly blue or orange) or are clear with fused gold inside. The intense colors and shimmering gold of the tiles combine to create a breathtaking effect.
This a look down the alcove. If you look you can see a diving platform over the entry to the alcove.
Overall this was just a fantastic oppertunity for taking amazing photos. Being my first trip I dont think I did to bad but have some new ideas when I visit again. If you are interested here is the link to Hearst Castle. I will finish up the next part when we drive up the coast to Monterey soon.
