4/16/09 - Cambria, CA (Scott)

Man, nature is loud! Ashlee and I both had a fitful night of sleeping. We think it was a combination of the lumpy bed, paper-thin walls with noisy neighbors (shouldn't everyone go to bed at 9pm?), and some incredibly loud birds that decided to start chirping at 3am. It's ok -- that's what nature is all about.

We ate breakfast at our motel -- did I say that it was called the Fernwood Resort? I'm not sure what the exact definition of resort is, but it must be pretty loose. Sorry, before I get the eyeroll from Ashlee, I'll admit that the motel provided everything we needed. Wow, I think that one night at the Clement in Monterey really spoiled me. Breakfast consisted of coffee (they had a cappuccino machine!), tea for Ashlee, yogurt, and something called a "Big Sur Bar" -- it was delicious.

It was my turn to take the wheel today. We had about 60 miles to cover to make it to Hearst Castle in San Simeon and then another few miles to the cozy little town of Cambria where we are spending the night. Grandma and Jon, another sojourning couple, frequent Cambria whenever they get the chance, and for Christmas they bought us a night's accommodation at their favorite little hotel. We've been looking forward to it for months.

The weather was, once again, ideal: blue skies and sunshine. We seemed to have left the roaring winds back in Monterey. The superb weather was great since we had to tackle the rest of Big Sur today. Just as yesterday, the road hugged the coast as it twisted and turned up and around rocky crags. The deep blue ocean off to our right was gorgeous, but I was careful to keep my eyes on the road. The speed limit was generally 50mph, but there were numerous 35mph curves and quite a few 15mph switchbacks. We also hit a few patches of road work where the construction workers brought traffic to a complete stop as they operated a one-lane stretch. For the most part, the road was empty -- although we did notice a bit of traffic heading north. I wonder if they knew something we didn't? Also, I found that those cars that were heading in our direction did not seem to appreciate my err...cautious driving skills. I don't know if they were locals running late for work or just general speed-demons, but a few cars were so eager to get a move on it that they illegally -- not to mention dangerously -- passed me. Relax! There were also some parts of the road where the turns were so tight and the road so narrow that I didn't realize how tight I was gripping the wheel until I saw my white knuckles. All in all, though, the drive was wonderful and I'm incredibly glad we made it. At the same time, however, I kept wondering how people handle this drive at night or during nasty weather.

Perhaps my favorite part of the drive was taking advantage of the turnouts every mile or so. When I first saw a sign saying "Vista Point 1/4 Mile" I wanted to ask Ashlee to check the guidebook to see if it was worth stopping at. I soon realized that pretty much all the paved turnouts were called "Vista Point" and they are all worth stopping at. The views were amazing! When we did stop, we'd get out our binoculars for some good ol' otter spotting. Ashlee swears she saw some lying in a huge kelp bed at one point, but I just saw driftwood. At the last Vista Point we stopped at before we hit San Simeon we found a beach covered in driftwood -- when we got closer we realized that it was actually a beach full of elephant seals. They were somg big ol' boombalotties! For the most part they were just lazing it up in the sun using their flippers to toss sand onto their backs to keep cool. It was quite a scene. The funniest part was the all the noise they were making. We weren't sure if they were grunts, belches, or farts -- although the stench in the air led me to believe that gas of some sort was being passed.

When we were looking at the seals, it reminded me of the Mexican Riviera cruise we took with my parents a couple years ago. In one of the ports we stopped at, we took a cruise along the coast and the tour guide took us to "Seal Point." Three such boats full of tourists converged on this "Seal Point" -- which was basically a buoy with only one poor seal getting completely overwhelmed by the boats.

Our first major stop of the day was Hearst Castle. For those of you who don't know, William Randolph Hearst (or "the Chief") was a media mogul from the early 20th century who used his fortune to build an incredible estate on the bluffs overlooking San Simeon Bay. I think it took 20 years to finish construction, and when everything was done, he used the place to entertain all the major celebrities of the time.

After eating a surprisingly good lunch at the visitor's center, we got in line to board the bus to head up to the castle. Now, as some of you may know, Ashlee is not the best at waiting in line. To be honest, she gets a little antsy. Today was particularly rough as she didn't sleep very well last night, we were standing in the sun, and there were several young kids waiting with us. Now, for the most part, Ashlee has a very nurturing and motherly disposition, but I think these particular kids pushed her to the limit. A couple of them were actually 7-year-old twins who were playing this sort of hybrid game of pat-a-cake that was insanely loud. They kept saying "Pee-KA-chu!" over and over. Bottom line, they were a little annoying and we were thankful to finally board the bus.

The actual tour was awesome. Hearst Castle is now owned by the state and operated as a historical park. They actually operate 5 different tours. We took the introductory one and got to explore both pools, one of the guest houses, and the bottom floor of the main house. The estate was gorgeous. Apparently the Chief was quite the world traveler and art collector. He pulled inspiration from all over Europe and his home looks like a Mediterranean paradise. The weather was gorgeous and it felt like we were right back in Italy. I took tons of pictures. I realized that the reason why I liked W.R. Hearst so much was because he reminded me of perhaps my favorite literary character ever: the Count of Monte Cristo. Like Monte Cristo, Hearst was ridiculously wealthy and he used his money to get whatever he wanted -- down to paying thousands of dollars to move around 9-ton trees simply because he thought they were blocking his view.

When we finished up at the Castle, we headed about 5 miles down the road to Cambria where we are staying for the night. Grandma and Jon are right -- we love Cambria! It is this small incredibly pleasant town that straddles Highway 1. Our hotel sits right on the coast and our actual room has a patio that looks right onto the water. Our room is also outfitted with a fireplace, another jacuzzi tub, and a television for Ashlee. We're supposed to be out of here by 11am tomorrow, but I don't think we'll ever leave...

After getting settled, we jumped back into Hamish and headed to the downtown area. By this time it was late afternoon and first on our list of priorities was a caffeine infusion. The people at our hotel's front desk told us of an excellent teahouse called "The Tea Cozy." The place was difficult to find, but it was full of charm and well worth the search. It was definitely very British -- Ashlee loved it. We shared a pot of tea along with some crumpets and excellent lemon cream cake. To Ashlee's delight, there was an adjoining store where she bought a teapot.

Afterwards, we explored some more of downtown -- which basically consisted of her half-dragging me to every antique shop she could find. Conveniently I found that pretty much all of these stores have benches outside -- they might as well stick up a sign saying "Husbands Here." Needless to say, the afternoon passed quickly. Fortunately, this being a small town, pretty much everything closed at 5pm.

By then it was just a matter of finding dinner -- which was easy since Grandpa Jon already told us about one of his favorite dives, a pizza joint called JJ's Pizza. The place definitely didn't disappoint. After dinner we hit up the local liquor store, bought a bottle of champagne...er...sparkling wine ($5 for Yellowtail chardonnay!), and headed back to our hotel to sit on our private patio to enjoy the sunset. It was divine. What a perfect way to end the day.

Tomorrow we are planning to spend the day here in Cambria. There looks to be quite a few trails right outside our hotel that explore the coast. We'll take our binoculars to spot for otters. In the afternoon we need to travel to our next stop, the little town of Santa Maria, where we will be catching a production of Les Miserables.