Monday, November 21, 2011

Hearst Castle

After staying the night in San Simeon I went to check out Hearst Castle. The castle was really cool but the tour was a little awkward since everyone else on it was old and retired. I felt very out of place. After the tour ended they let us walk around and check stuff out so I just roamed around and took pictures.

Hearst Castle

One of the epic rooms inside the castle

The view from the castle was pretty amazing.

Monterey to San Simeon

I stayed at my first bed & breakfast in Carmel which was a pretty interesting experience. The breakfast was delicious and the other people staying there were pretty interesting. The owner printed me out a list of awesome places to go and I happily did what she said. I drove from Carmel down Highway 1 and stopped at the state parks she suggested and some random beaches. I saw a bunch of signs for a place called Hearst Castle so I went in to check it out but the last tour had left 20 minutes earlier :(. It sounded cool enough that I decided to stay the night and check it out in the morning (see next post), so I walked around random beaches and piers until it got dark and found a hotel.

Bed & Breakfast in Carmel
Whalers Cove at Point Lobos State Reserve

Sand Hill Cove at Point Lobos State Reserve

Nepenthe Restaurant - recommended by the owner of the bed & breakfast. She was so right. The Ambrosia Burger was amazing!

A beach along Highway 1 that had a big sign saying not to feed the animals. People fed them anyway so there were lots of squirrels roaming around. Adorable!

Sunset at my hotel in San Simeon

More pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/113790725575874436353/MontereyToSanSimeon

Monterey

I left San Francisco and decided to take a week to drive down the coast and stop at whatever looked cool. I checked out the Monterey Bay Aquarium and then headed down to Carmel. I made a wrong turn trying to find Carmel and ended up accidentally going into a national park. The gate guard made it sound cool so I just went with it and it was pretty amazing.


Monterey Bay Aquarium


More pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/113790725575874436353/Monterey