Hearst Castle and More!

While in the Paso Robles area, there is more to see than vineyards.  So, we had planned a day to take one of the Hearst Castle tours - or as Gary would say - "another old house tour”!  However, he has admitted that this tour, and "house" was worth the time and effort to get there.

 

Actually, the drive from Paso Robles to the beach is

beautiful, with rolling hills and then, finally, that gorgeous view of the Pacific.  The water looked so tempting, but I know it isn’t anything like the warm Gulf of Mexico waters that I so love (so looking was it for me).

William Randolph Hearst arranged for his properties to go to the state, and it is now operated as part of the San Simeon State Park.  This 100+ room house was built from 1919 – 1947 (and never really completed), when he moved out due to health issues.  He had purchased warehouses of antiquities from Europe, some of which were used to furnish the Castle and its grounds.

His collections included full ceilings, fireplaces, wall units, doors, and other pieces, that were cut and fitted to the Castle’s rooms! 

When the state of CA took possession of this property, it had many repairs before the estate was opened to the world in 1958.  I sure am glad they were able to make those improvements and that they continue to offer such wonderful tours!

As we learned on the bus drive up to the Castle, this is still a working ranch with cattle on the hillsides.  But you can also have a chance to see a few unexpected animals still on the property that are (decedents of) animals from his zoo.  Of course, these are not the polar bears or other predators (given to zoos years ago), but more in the ungulate category – deer, goats, and zebras.  We heard the zebra graze with the cattle down by the campground, but did not see any. However, we did luck out and see a group of tahr mountain goats poised on a rock outcrop. 

There are several different tours, and their website suggests the “grand rooms” for a first timer.  However, we chose to do the “upstairs suites” which includes many of the guest rooms and the private rooms of Hearst and his mistress.  In typical style of the wealthy of that time period, each bedroom was equipped with a private bath; if there were two beds in a room, it also would have two baths! Hearst and his architect, Julia Morgan, added all the modern technology – plumbing, telephones, electricity, heaters in each room, etc.  [our grandkids would never recognize those phones…].

Another interesting design for these private rooms was a huge library for the guests AND another huge library/meeting room on Hearst’s private suite of rooms on the third floor.  And, all food was served on the main floor – no eating in bed!  Dinners were a formal affair – seems to me most of life in this Castle would classify as formal when compared to our lifestyle today. 

After the formal tour, visitors can leisurely walk around to see the outdoor gardens – full of plantings, sculptures and other art; the outdoor Neptune pool (drained for repairs) and tennis courts; and the Roman indoor pool underneath the tennis courts.  Of course, I immensely enjoyed the chance to study the gardens. 

We managed to see quite a bit before taking the return bus to the visitor’s center.  And, once there we used the other portion of our ticket to see the 40-minute movie about Hearst, his dreams and his completion of those dreams in San Simeon.

After all that touring, we were ready for lunch and drove to the beach across the street from the entrance to the Castle, to Sebastian’s Store for sandwiches (using Hearst Ranch beef, of course – and it was good!).  From there we headed just a few miles down the beach to view all the elephant seals.

The adults were “busy” sleeping and resting, for the most part.  We learned this is because they are molting their skin and hair!  While molting, which takes about a month, they do not eat or drink.  We also saw some pups there waiting to hit the waves. Finding them was not an issue – they were along the beaches for miles.  People seemed to be considerate and remained at view-points on the high ground.

From there we headed back to the RV and our waiting canine companions.  This was a wonderful day – culture (old house tour) and nature combined!