Hearst Castle in San Simeon, CA

A week ago, I made my trip to Central Coast to visit San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay. Along the way, I wanted to make a stop to Hearst Castle in San Simeon, CA. The drive to Hearst Castle from my place took about 6 hours with one trip to the gas station. I brought along Emily and my cousin. It was my first trip with them and found myself annoyed by them sometimes.

When we first arrived, we entered the Visitor Center. The visitor center has a shop, Starbucks, theater, and a few restaurants. There is also seating outside to view the area. There were bathrooms inside, but we couldn't use them due to a problem. I think it was due to chemical problems?

The process to get my tickets was pretty efficient. But, there was still a line to get them although I already made a reservation. The bus ride up to the hill was nice. It was informative and offered a great view.

When we arrived at Hearst Castle, we immediately began our Cottages and Kitchen tour. There were other tours to choose from, but I decided on this tour. I figured that I'm bound to go to Hearst Castle again sometime in my life.

The first thing that our tour guide showed us was a Roman sarcophagus. When she described it to us, I can't believe that William Randolph Hearst had 7 of them. I, then, wondered what else Mr. Hearst had in the castle and cottages. Later, I was surprised to learn that he still had a warehouse full of priceless, old, and historic items.

The wine cellar was one of two places that we saw inside the castle. It looked pretty cool. There was so many different kinds of beers, wines, and other drinks. However, there was only one drink in there that was still edible since temperature was not controlled.

As we walked through the cottages, I thought about how nice it would have been to stay in one of those cottages as a guest. I also thought about how nice and expensive the place and items were at the place. We didn't get to go to all the cottages. We didn't get to go the cottage that was blown up in the 70s around the time when Patricia Hearst was kidnapped.

Our last stop on the tour was the kitchen inside the castle. It was a huge kitchen. I imagine the many different kinds of desserts, bakery, and dishes that were created for guests. It's definitely a nice kitchen meant to feed masses.

After our tour, we were allowed to walk around the area and take photos.

On our way to the bus stop, we were able to view the Roman pool, which was absolutely stunning. I would have loved to take a dip there.

I really enjoyed my time at Hearst Castle and I would recommend it. A good learning experience and you get a good view, as well as the opportunity to look at historic items!!

Meet Jack

I first met Jack when my mom and sister brought him home in January. We got Jack from a man who decided to move to Alaska and couldn't bring Jack with him. Jack has been with us ever since.

My sister says Jack is a boxer and when I looked up pictures online Jack looks like one. He is very soft and doesn't have long fur. The softest part of him would be his head and ears.

Jack is house trained, but he doesn't always listen to directions. He doesn't like to share his food with other dogs. He is a good guard dog. He will eating flying bugs if he sees them in the ear. He will chase after squirrels. He doesn't like it when the outside dogs go inside our home. He will barks at strangers when they are too close to our door.

Jack makes for a nice cuddle buddy. He likes to sleep and lay down next to others. However, if someone calls his name he would be away in a second.

Jack is a pretty good size. I've grown to be comfortable around him. I used to be very afraid of dogs when I was younger.

If you ask me a year ago if I would ever have a house dog, I would immediately say no, but now I would change my answer to yes. Jack has fleas, which is unfortunate for him and we tried using some products. I find myself talking about Jack a lot. Yes, I like Jack.

Short Hike in Auburn with Xeng

I believe it was in January when me and Xeng hiked in Auburn. Xeng wanted to look at an overview of the American River, but we weren't quite sure where is was though.

After hiking for about 15 minutes, we ended up at this former dam site. It was scenic there. I can't believe that place used to be a dam.

I didn't want to continue the trail since it looked pretty tough and I didn't know where else it would lead. We came back to where we started and noticed that most the trails listed where way too far for us to do.

We decided to walk around the area a bit and look around, but not go on the long hikes.

During our walk, we noticed a fish pond. It was nice to see. I assumed that the water came from the American River. After our short hike, me and Xeng ate at Oscars. It was Xeng's first time, but I think she liked it. Even though our hike was short, Xeng suggested we check out Lake Clementine for a future hike.