Day 7: Hearst Castle
Seriously … how can I have any words to describe this adventure to Hearst Castle?! The photos will speak for itself of the beauty. Yet, I’m not sure if even these photos do the place justice as it is an absolutely jaw dropping atmosphere! This is definitely one of our all time favorite tours we have ever done! Talk about the “WOW factor”! Every step of the way we were just in awe! Take a look for yourself!
Mr. Hearst and his family once owned a personal zoo … and still today, they have these African goats, udads, around the property along with zebras, coyotes, cows and other animals.
Sneak peek of the inside … so articulately detailed from the wall decor to the ceiling.
They are in the middle of restoring this 600 year old ceiling. Can you see the difference of what has been cleaned? Unbelievable!
Or even these spaces. 🙂 Especially the indoor pool!
Now the impressive part … the outdoors! He surrounded what he called his “ranch” with fruits and vegetables.
Oh yes … and this is his back yard. All of it. All 250,000 acres. … yes, you saw right … a quarter of a million acres!
The cute cottage I secretly want to own!
The view! HOLY MOLY.
His “little ranch”. Yes, no big deal.
Amazing detailing!
Lady Gaga was actually here just days before we ventured around for her new music video! I can see why out of all places she would want to do it here!
I MUST HAVE THIS on my future house! If only I lived out in the west coast…
Another amazing view!
Oh yes … just relaxing by the pool. 😉
Really, we were really relaxing by the pool! Lol!
The castle from afar on the top of the mountain.
Isn’t this place AMAZING?! If you are ever in the area of Cambria, definitely worth the visit! And I must add that this would be a dream place to photograph a wedding … sigh. 🙂 The remainder of the day, we decided to relax and explore a little of Cambria. Amazing way to end the grand road trip!
Day 8: Santa Barbara/Malibu/Hollywood/Beverly Hills
It was time to head home … sad day. We loaded up our bags organizing them for the plane and we were on our way from Cambria. We traveled down Route 1 leaving enough time for more adventures … which we love to do! We stopped in Santa Barbara to explore and stop of coffee at the French Press. Instantly, we fell in LOVE with this little city! If I had to choose between all the places we stopped on this trip, I would say my top 3 favorite areas are: Yosemite, Monterey/Carmel and Santa Barbara! Too bad we weren’t there longer … which makes me wish I planned it to where I stayed for United 2014 which happened just days after I went through Santa Barbara! Boo! Next year though!!! 🙂 We were recommended to stop into Malibu for lunch to eat on the beach. It was good however, we had the seagulls stalking us and our lunches. Fortunately for us, we had a little brave 5 year old run them off several times for us as she noticed these birds surrounding us. Lol! Wish I had my camera out for this! After our lunch we had the brilliant idea to run through Hollywood and Beverly Hills since we had 3-4 hours before turning in our car at 6 p.m. that day. From Malibu to our rental car turn in spot, it was just basically down the road … so it wouldn’t be much to take a little detour right? WRONG. SO VERY VERY VERY WRONG. We were pressing time and stressing every minute once we got onto the major highway leading us to Hollywood. Holy cow was that a nightmare. We are forever traumatized by Los Angeles and not sure if we want to make a return. Lol! Really though, we did not plan the timing right. It was rush hour … in Hollywood … Because of our weaving in and out around the city to find any little loop hole through the traffic, we were able to turn in our car 3 MINUTES before it was due! Talk about pressing time! WHEW! Then we had 3-4 hours before our airplane took off … so I was able to take that time to relax and edit through my photos from the trip. 🙂 The funny part of the car turn in time … I only just spilled this to Kyle a couple days ago … I looked on our receipt and it said that our car rental turn in was at 8 p.m. … not 6 p.m. If only we knew we didn’t have to stress those solid 3 hours of traffic panic! Lol!
Day 9: DC
We flew home red eye … which wasn’t a bad idea but it definitely made for an exhausting day as we arrived back in Dulles at 5:30 a.m. After it was all set and done, it was one of the best road trips I have ever experienced! Now, it’s time to start planning a road trip for next year in the … UNITED KINGDOM! AH! :)))
California road trip advice | Los Angeles & Yosemite | San Francisco & Sonoma | Route 1
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