May 19 Castle visit and more roads

We visited with Benjamin at the Tourist Information Center before heading out of San Simeon.

Benjamin at the Tourist Center San Simeon

He was a wealth of knowledge concerning the area and had a real passion for the land there. He told us how the Hearst family wanted to develop San Simeon and how the “townspeople” wanted to keep it natural with all its history and they came to an agreement, paying for the land in order to keep the beautiful pristine coastline and town. He also gave us some tips for visiting the “Hearst Castle” and suggested a place to eat lunch.

We had a wonderful time touring the “Grand Rooms” and the grounds of the Hearst Castle. The tour guide we had was very interesting and you could tell he really loved his job.

The Hearst Castle

The Dining Room. Even though it was so elegant, he always used paper napkins and bottle of ketchup & mustard on the table. It was the way his mama used to set the table

That ceiling was made in the 1600s in Spain. He basically built this castle to hold all his art!

ONE of his pools

View from the Castle

We then started out again on Highway 1, stopping many times for picture taking. (I wish I had been counting all the stops!!)

Pacific Coast

More Pacific Coast ( I COULD insert about 200 more pix, but it just isn’t “practical” is it?

At one of the stops we met a couple of guys going cross country on their bikes. They started out in Little Rock, Arkansas and were travelling for two more weeks! My shutterbug friend asked if I could get on one of their bikes for a picture, so I did!

Betty with “Mike” on his bike

We had a few laughs and then went on our way.

We stopped at Lucia, the restaurant Benjamin had suggested for a delicious meal. We had a beautiful view of the ocean and just enjoyed taking our time there.

Our view for lunch

Made it to Monterey in the early evening and after checking into our hotel headed for a Laundromat where we met a very sweet young lady, Julianna. She stayed late so we could finish our laundry!

Laundromat and cards

She also told us about a Farmer’s Market for tomorrow and said she would be there selling pastry for a bakery she works for, just in case we were able to go and for us to stop by and see her.

Finally back to the hotel to finish the game of hand and foot that we began at the Laundromat….then to bed. So, until tomorrow…..good night to all!