This post was written yesterday (Friday) but posted today (Saturday) due to lack of internet.
I was hoping to leave early this morning but once again I woke up to fog and a damp tent. Rather than sit around waiting of the tent to dry I decided to go back to sleep.
An hour or so later the weather had cleared enough to start packing up. As I was leaving the tent I heard rustling in the grass and found the culprit to be skunk, the first I've seen. I wasn't sure if I should be concerned but I just ignored it and it disappeared soon after.
Hearst Castle was a few miles back up the road toward Big Sur and I got there at around 10am. The waiting area was seemed pretty busy but I was told by a staff member that the place would be packed starting tomorrow due to summer holidays. I'm hoping this isn't going to cause me too much trouble from now on!
Hearst Castle is the palatial home of media magnate William Randolph Hearst. It was built between 1919 and 1947 and was never properly finished. Hearst loved European and Middle Eastern art and the buildings were constructed in a Spanish/Italian style. Hearst collected European ceilings with much of those in the house being shipped from much older buildings in Europe. Many of the floors also come from Europe with ancient Roman mosaics. It's not really a castle in the traditional sense, but house or even mansion doesn't really do it justice either.
The Castle is high up on a hilltop with the visitor centre down by the shore. You have to buy a tour to be able to visit the castle and access is provided by bus. The road is very picturesque (although hard to photograph through the bus windows) as it winds up the steep slopes. Hearts planted a lot of trees which he sited specifically to provide glimpses of the buildings as the road approached. The ride was narrated of course so there was plenty to look for during the 15 minute drive.
The tour I choose was the most popular and went through many rooms of the main building, called the Casa Grande. The building seemed far older than it really it due to the huge amount of historic art it contains, much of which is built in. The tour visited the grand entrance hall, the dining hall (which Hearst liked to call the refectory), a sitting room, a billiards room, and unexpectedly a cinema. Hearst owned a film company and apparently would always show a movie as part of a night's entertainment.
The entrance hall with historic imported Spanish ceiling
Lighting fixtures in the cinema
After the tour ended visitors are free to explore the grounds. There are a number of pretty guest houses, well tended gardens, a huge outdoor pool (which was empty and undergoing renovation), tennis courts, and a large indoor pool. The view from the grounds was spectacular and looked out over San Simeon and further down the coast. The sea fog hung just off the beach as always.
One of the guest houses
It was midday by the time I'd finished at the castle and started heading south. I planned to stop for lunch at a nice looking beach called Avila which was just a bit past San Luis (you do pronounce the S) Obispo, about an hour's drive. It turned out that I wasn't the only one with the same idea. I would have had to park miles away from the beach and I was reluctant to leave my car full of gear to I decided to press on. I ended up making a meagre sandwich in a McDonald's car park about half an hour further on.
I was heading for a camp ground just out of Santa Barbara in the Santa Ynez valley. On the way I passed a lake and for the first time saw just how dire the drought must be. The lake looked to be dozens of metres below its normal level. There were some docks that stood out on grassy land with no water in sight. Unfortunately I didn't find anywhere to stop and take a photo.
View down the Santa Ynez Valley
The landscape had changed a lot since Big Sur and was now a lot more arid. The rounded peaks of the mountains were wrapped in dry looking trees which continued down to the (dry) river in the valley floor. The temperature was also far warmer at around 28 degrees.
The camp ground was pretty small and I had a choice of three sites. I couldn't really find a reason to choose any one over the others so just ended up choosing the closest. It wasn't until I went to put up my tent that I noticed the nest of huge red ants. Luckily the seemed to keep to a small area so I just put my tent on the other side of the site. I felt like I had things crawling all over me for a while after though.
Tomorrow's plan is to head over the hills into Santa Barbara for the day. I'll head south from there and try and find a camp site near Malibu before heading down to San Diego after that. I've had to cut Los Angeles for now but I might be able to squeeze a night in on the way back up.