California 5/4/08

Today we headed up Hwy 101 and 1 towards Hearst Castle. We went on The Experience tour (#1) which includes the downstairs of the Casa Grande, a guest house, and the movie for $20 per person. The bus takes you 5 miles up to the house and it was definitely grand. It reminded me of a smaller version of the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC. My favorite part was the outside pool. I loved all the art that was displayed throughout the place and I took way too many pictures! I enjoyed learning about William Randolph Hearst and his background.

When we left there we drove along Hwy 1 and it got pretty curvy so finally I got to drive. Of course Don spent most of the time telling me how I should drive, how fast I should go, how I should slow down, and everything I was doing wrong. We did stop at several vistas and saw the elephant seals. There was even a nice old lady who was there to answer any questions that we had. I learned that they were in a catastrophic molt and it took 2 weeks to shed their fur and 2 weeks to grow new fur.

We stopped in Gorda for some lunch (which was really dinner since it was now 4:30pm). We just had 2 bowls of clam chowder, a soda, and an ice tea and it cost me $33. I would not recommend that place unless you were desperate. After we checked in our hotel, we went to Wal-Mart and loaded up on junk food.