Today we resumed our journey down California Highway 1 from below San Francisco in Seaside just north of Monterrey. It was the typical brisk day on the California coast with the temperature hovering around 64 degrees. The drive down the coast was just as beautiful as we had anticipated. In this section of Hwy-1, the road follows the coastline all the way from Seaside to San Simeon. There are portions where you are close to sea level, but most of this section is from a few hundred to several hundred feet above the water. Some times the land slopes to the sea, other times it is just a cliff drop. But everywhere the views are spectacular!
     About midway through today's journey, the road turned inland for Big Sur . I guess we weren't sure what to expect of Big Sur, but most of the things to see were back in the woods , off the highway. We did stop at a combination Gallery and Cafe and had lattes while we looked at the artwork. Very relaxing way to spend a morning. Most of the day was spent riding and stopping to take pictures and riding and stopping to take pictures. There were just so many beautiful scenic overlooks. While a lot of the road was up high and near the edge, there were more guard rails and the road was just a little bit further from the edge that made the riding much more comfortable. There were some close to the edge moments, but not as many as the further north sections.
    As we approached San Simeon, there was a big sign for an elephant seal scenic vista ahead. As we pulled into the parking area, there were lots of cars. It turns out that this particular beach is a rookery for elephant seals, and even though it's later in the season, there were still a bunch of elephant seals lying about . These things are HUGE! Much bigger than the typical harbor seals we are used to seeing. We took a bunch of pictures before we got back on the bike for the last 5 miles to the Hearst Castle. We left Seaside at 8:30 in the morning, and we didn't make it to the Hearst Castle until 1:30. Five hours to go 100 miles! You can tell we were dawdling at the overlooks.
     I'd heard of the Hearst Castle, but didn't really know what to expect. It turned out to be a lovely little 151 room mansion at the top of a very steep and windy road. It turns out to be a state park, and they offer about a half dozen different tours, most about 45 minutes long. We picked the Grand Rooms tour, the most popular with first time visitors. We got in line at 1:30 and ended up on the 2:10 tour. So much for the dire warnings on the website of tour sellouts.
     It was a 13 minute 27 second ride in a bus to the top of the hill, or that's what the bus lady told us. The road to the top of Hearst Castle was much scarier than anything we had encountered on Hwy-1, but the tiny little lady bus driver handled it with ease . At the top we were met by our tourguide, Marty Moon. That was his name, and he looked like an elderly out of work actor. But he knew his stuff about the castle and was a great tourguide. I'm not sure the Hearst Castle is any outstanding piece of architecture, but it is one of those old fashioned museum houses, where the house is really just there to showcase the artwork. Hearst was evidently one of those old time world travelers that bought up Renaissance and Gothic tapestries and ceilings and fireplace mantles and statues, and all kinds of stuff especially from the 13th to the 16th century and then stored this stuff in warehouses all around the world. Then he built the house to display all of these pieces. The architect was woman named Julia Morgan, and they showed a home movie clip with her in it at the castle theater near the end of the tour. She was evidently very tiny and camera shy.
     The house and grounds were very impressive! Very beautifully done, and some of the artwork was in the process of being restored . Some of the ceilings could not be restored in Hearst's day, are being restored now so they will actually look better than Hearst ever saw them. They were also restoring the outdoor swimming pool, but the indoor pool was filled and was spectacular! By the time we rode the bus back down to the entrance it was 4:00 and we still had an hours ride to the hotel. The tour came with a 30 minute movie presentation in a big screen theater at the entrance, but by the time we got back, the next showing was at 4:30, and it would be after 5:00 before we finished, so we decided to skip the movie and head to the hotel.
     Tonight we are staying in Pismo Beach. I'm not sure where I've heard the name before, but it turns out to be a typical beach town. We explored a little when we went downtown for dinner at the Pismo Beach Fish & Chips Restaurant. Turns out they had swordfish on the menu, so we had to go there to get us both some swordfish for dinner. Tomorrow we continue our journey down Hwy-1, the Pacific Coast Highway from Pismo Beach to a place in northern Los Angeles called Sylmar. It should be a great trip!

161.1 miles today
12,521.2 miles total

4.762 gallons today
298.948 gallons total