Hearst Castle, Elephant Seals And A Few Other Things

Four years of college went by in a flash and we didn't get to do half the things we wanted to do with our daughter who is graduating from UC Santa Barbara in a few weeks.  What happened to the trip to the Channel Islands we were supposed to take?  The trip to the San Diego Zoo?   Hearst Castle?  Well, at least let's fit in a trip to the coast to see Hearst Castle!   So we arranged to meet in San Louis Obispo (otherwise known as SLO) where we would then head off to San Simeon.  SLO, home to Cal Poly, is a great college town, with lots of interesting shops and Mission San Louis Obispo:

                                                                                  

Had some time to kill as darling daughter showed up a little late and of course stopped by the two yarn shops in town.   Yarns at the Adobe  is a really charming little shop:

                                                                        
Great atmosphere - you feel like you have stepped into a fellow knitter's apartment and that they have a serious yarn stash:

                                                                          

A nice little patio out back to sit and knit:

                                                                            

Stopped by to see Nordic Mart,  which is primarily a mail order spot for Drops yarns.  They display a sample of each of the Drops yarns and a few sweater samples and that's about it:

We headed off to San Simeon and drove a few miles north to see the Elephant seals:

     

What a sight!

                                                                          

      

Hearst Castle is an incredible place; the summer "camp" of William Randolph Hearst and now a major California attraction. So much to see; there are a number of tours to take and we settled on the Experience tour which gives you a general view of the place, including those incredibly beautiful pools:

  
The indoor pool:

                                                                                    
      
Anticipating our question about the cost of running this place, our tour guide told us it costs $2 million a year to maintain Hearst Castle, but that this is covered by ticket sales.

A great weekend!