Hearst Castle

Today we met our friends Letha & Tai. We will be doing 3 tours of William Randolph Hearst's Castle, together, one today and two tomorrow. Today we visit Casa Grande.

There is no flash photography inside Hearst Castle and this is the only inside shot we ventured to take. Even some outside shots were difficult, due to the intense fog that always threatened to lift--but never quite managed to do so. We could not see the Castle from the entrance, nor could we see it on the winding road up the hill. The weatherperson had predicted sunny and clear in the pm; but, we all know what liars they are. We hope for clearer weather tomorrow.

Billiards Room Ceiling. This European ceiling, the second oldest on the estate, dates from before Columbus sailed to the New World.

According to Wikipedia, "The estate is a pastiche of historic architectural styles that its owner admired in his travels around Europe. Hearst was an omnivorous buyer who did not so much purchase art and antiques to furnish his home as built his home to get his bulging collection out of warehouses. This led to incongruous elements such as the private cinema whose walls were lined with shelves of rare books. The floor plan of the Main Building is chaotic due to his habit of buying centuries-old ceilings, which dictated the proportions and decor of various rooms."

The guide noted several times that Hearst never referred to this home as a 'castle.' He usually called it "the ranch"--there was a 250,000 acre ranch he owned surrounding the home. As a child (long before construction on the castle began), he referred to it as "camp hill." Formally, he later named it "La Cuesta Encantada" (Enchanted Hill).

Outside, we browsed around the colorful gardens until it was time to take the bus down the 5 mile drive back to the Visitor Center at sea level. There is a drop of approximately 1600 feet on this trip.

Cottage With Flowers

The decor and architecture actually work well together; but, it is an actual hodge podge of styles from across the world and the centuries--from Egypt in 3,000 BC to Europe in the 1600s.

Cottage Exterior

I thought several of the statues were very appealing. I was especially touched by the first one for its tender sentimentality.

Statue in Garden

Another Statue in Garden

Statue in Garden, Finale

Teak Exterior, Front, Casa Grande

Castle Bell Tower

Neptune Pool is a gorgeous construction that we were unable to approach closely, today; they were preparing for an event this evening.

Work on the castle stopped in 1947 when Hearst stopped living here because of ill health. Here is evidence of this incomplete state of construction.

Unfinished Castle

Monarch in the Garden

On the descent we were on the lookout for wildlife remaining from the zoo. We spotted several zebras grazing near a small herd of cattle at the bottom of the ranch.

We had a quick lunch nearby and drove to our Motel 6 to check in and prepare for a brief 3 mile hike.

On the Trail With Letha & Tai

Tai & Letha Stop On the Trail

Completing the hike we drove around til we located a family style bar and grill for a quick meal: beer and burgers for Tai and I, clam chowder in a bread bowl for Letha, and salad and a cup of clam chowder for Claire. A delicious end to a lovely day.

I would like to build something upon the hill at San Simeon. I get tired of going up there and camping in tents. I'm getting a little too old for that. I'd like to get something that would be a little more comfortable. ~ William Randolph Hearst to Architect Julia Morgan

Santa Barbara

All we had to do today was drive from Palm Springs to Santa Barbara--Goleta, really. This is our waystation on the way to Hearst Castle in San Simeon.

We decided to wait until the commuter traffic died down to hit the road. For the most part, we managed to avoid heavy traffic and there were no mid-road stops--not even slowdowns for our lanes. It was already 91 degrees at 9:30am on US Interstate 10 as we were leaving the Palm Springs Area; by the time we were nearing Santa Barbara at 1:30pm it was down to 69!

We were appalled to see what we thought was a wall of smog as far as we could see in front of us as we drove West; but, Claire finally checked her iPhone to confirm this and found that we were also looking at coastal fog. This relieved us greatly.

This Smart car actually had the audacity to pass us on our journey--Shouldn't it be in a special lane for smaller vehicles and toys?

Smart Car in the Fast Lane

Along the way, we determined for sure that we wanted to visit the UC Santa Barbara campus. This was from a combination of motives: We both worked at UC campuses, our friend, Mick, attended UCSB, our grandaughter, Sarah, might come here one day, and we thought it would be a pretty site to walk around.

We found the campus information kiosk and the friendly clerk directed us to the parking garage. We decided we could do what we wanted in an hour, bought the appropriate permit and headed on down the path.

UCSB Campus

Claire thought the campus was probably very White in composition; but, as I looked around, I thought it was a pretty fair mix of ethnicities--except that we only saw one person who seemed to be African-American. He was singing Gospel tunes, loudly, as he walked across campus. I suspect that Latinos may be similarly under-represented--that is certainly true at our former campus at UC Davis.

The bevy of bikes is a familiar sight to us on campus. We both commuted a full 1.5 minutes to campus from our present home for a number of years.

UCSB Parking Lot

We thought the traffic lanes were well laid out clearly for pedestrians, bicyclists and cars. They even have separate lanes for skateboards!

Skateboard Lane

The Storke Tower is a new--to me--feature on the UCSB campus. In fact, nothing is familiar to me here. I was last on campus, I think, in 1960 when I came to visit my friend Mick, just after I finished Army Basic Training at Fort Ord.

Storke Campanile

Our impression is of a beautiful campus that would suit well our grandaughter one day. We picked up a brochure to pass along to her upon her return, priming her, perhaps, for a possible future 10 years or so in the future.

UCSB Library

We left the campus and checked into our Motel 6. It had a modern look and feel and was the first place we have stayed that did not have carpeting. We think this is because of the proximity to sandy beaches. The only complaints about the room were that they did not have enough cubbies for towels, and they only gave us one bath towel. It was annoying that the guy in the neighboring room thought it was all right to talk on his cell phone right outside our door in a loud voice--to several different people, despite Claire's request that he move his conversation.

Motel 6 Bathroom

Motel 6 Bedroom

The greatest year of my life was spent in Spain with EAP. Deciding not to take advantage of this program should be thoght of as an awful crime. Do yourself a favor and get out of this country. ~ Samuel DeFranceschi

Joshua Tree & Palm Springs

We had two destinations in mind for today: Joshua Tree National Park and Palm Springs.

I neglected to mention, yesterday, things we noticed or discussed along the way:

The humidity here in Twentynine Palms is 15%, vs Davis, 44%. I have not noticed it as much as Claire; she puts on sunscreen in the morning and lip balm several times.

The drive from AZ to CA was dry, uneventful. We were sleepy, probably dehydrated--I thought that we didn't have to worry about this while in the car. The swim was brief, but refreshing. We are very glad we decided to have pools in our motels.

There were numerous towns that barely merit the name--we are clear that these are not places we'd care to live--hot, dry, lacking in amenities, none of our friends.

Today, we were determined to greet the sunrise with camera ready. But, we misjudged the distance to the viewing spot we selected. We also had difficulty finding where we were on the map. But, we managed to see enough to satisfy ourselves and get back to the motel in time to pack, eat breakfast and depart by the 11am check out time.

Sunrise

Sunrise Advancing

Park Namesake

Joshua Tree and Rocks in the early morning light. I was surprised at the number of rocks and mountains--I had expected flat desert.

Joshua Tree

Moribund Tree

Trees. We were fascinated with the yellow blossoms and thought they made the JTs "pop."

Rock and Tree

Arch Rock and Druid Initiate

Arch Rock in Direct Sunlight

Field of Boulders

Chuck's Pre-lunch Snack at A&W

The Motel 6 is located on the edge of town in Palm Springs and has a hot tub and a pool with water at a perfect temperature--you can walk right in, but still feel refreshed. We found--constructed--a shady spot and then alternated reading and dipping.

We met with Claire's cousin, Bruce, tonight; he has lived in Palm Springs for six years. She has not seen him in a very long time; but, since we were near, we made plans to see him.

He has a beautiful one story house in town, with a pool and spa. He showed us around. He has some lovely art from local artists. He was quite proud of his memorabilia from attending Obama's inauguration. We chatted and snacked for a while and left for Lulu's, a hot new bistro downtown.

Claire and Cousin Bruce

Bruce's Chicken Dinner

Claire's Tilapia Dinner

Chuck's Flank Steak

After dinner, Bruce gave us a brief tour around town and we returned to our Motel 6. Claire tried the gate around the pool to see if we could have a midnight swim: Alas, they have a mechanical lock that prevents the entry keys from working. Oh, well, tomorrow is another day, another town.

The most repulsive tree in the vegetable kingdom," ~ Explorer John Fremont, describing Joshua Trees

Jerome and Prescott

Yesterday we left beautiful Sedona to drive through Jerome on the way to Prescott--all in AZ, of course--to see my friend Neil from high school.

We debated whether to see Jerome--it was not the quickest path to our ultimate destination for the day; but, the recommendation of our friends Tai and Letha won out and we stopped there for a cuppa java and a walk around (part of) town.

We were both dying for a cappuccino or a latte, and our Frommer's guide had good things to say about the Flatiron Cafe. We arrived in town early and had little problem finding a place to park. The cafe, interestingly, is split into two locations across the street from each other; the same staff of two serviced both locations by running back and forth. We visited the corner location.

The Flatiron Cafe

Inside the Flatiron, we were to shown the only empty table and took the menu from the waitress. We immediately decided upon our respective choices: Nonfat Cappuccino for Claire and Regular Latte for Chuck.

Inside the Flatiron Cafe

Chuck's Beautiful Latte

Claire commented on the beauty of her beverage. The owner responded, "I care." He does and it shows. He said the coffee is great because the beans are excellent. Claire loved her brew so much that she asked if she could purchase the beans. He said yes, but warned us that it would not stay fresh long if he ground the beans for us; since we don't have a grinder, we had him grind them anyway.

Magic Novo Beans

Leaving the Cafe with Novo Silver

As we wandered about town looking into the windows of closed shops, we discovered much in the way of familiar tourist offerings. But, there was one curio that particularly caught our attention.

Strange Sign

Since almost nothing was open yet on this beautiful Sunday morning, we continued to do a bit of window shopping. Eventually, Claire made purchases at the Connor Hotel: a pair of lovely earrings and a birthday card.

Connor Hotel

As we were preparing to leave, I spotted an antique sound movie projector. We both thought it very interesting and Claire thought her son, Mathew--a major movie and camera buff--would appreciate it; so she immediately emailed him the picture from the cell phone.

Old projector in Front of Theatre Store

We took the scenic, but curvy, route from Jerome to Prescott. Wisely, I decided to drive this part--to keep my motion sickness at bay.

We put Neil and Paula's address into Susan (our GPS) and she happily accepted it. So, I foolishly forgot that he had warned me that his place was difficult to locate. We finally arrived at a dirt road that ran into a locked fence that paralleled the railroad tracks. This could not be right. There was another road just beyond this, but none of the mailboxes gave helpful information and we had absolutely no signal for our cell phones.

We decided to drive back to find a land line phone that would give us access to Neil. I thought the Church we had passed on the way in would be a good bet; but, we got to a Texaco gas station and grocery store first and stopped to try our luck. The clerk was friendly, helpful, and knew Neil. He let us use the store's cordless phone. Neil rattled off the directions, several times--as I kept missing parts, and we set off again.

It turns out that the original paved road at which we stopped--just beyond the dirt road--was the correct path to follow and five minutes later we were watching Neil wave to us, showing us where to park.

We had a wonderful time catching up: Since the year we graduated from high school, I believe that I have seen Neil only three times: First, just after he married Paula, while they were both still students at Stanford. Next, in 2010, at a mini-reunion of seven high school friends and their significant others. Finally, yesterday. We find that we have similar political outlooks; and we have love of family, and fascination with books in common. We exchanged notes on authors and movie titles and I accepted two books from Neil, which I will begin to savor upon my return to Davis: One a crime thriller, the other is historical fiction about WWII.

I can scarcely begin to say how much we love their home and 76 acre ranch. It is about 40 minutes from Prescott and they venture into town about 3 times a week--for food, yoga lessons and musical entertainment. They designed the place themselves with a spacious 3400 square foot floor plan. Much of the interior decorating was woodwork by Paula--cabinets, doors. There are enormous windows everywhere, providing lovely desert vistas by day and (literally) heavenly views by night. The tour included their original home on the property, about 75 yards away, consisting of a giant living space with several smaller rooms--all upstairs--and two wonderful workshops downstairs: a fully furnished wood shop for Paula and her artistic endeavors, and an auto shop for Neil, who has a restored MGB, a Model A Ford and a partially restored similar vintage Ford in place. They also have a gaggle of farm equipment--tractors and back hoes--two golf carts for local transportation and two jeeps for further forays. (I apologize for not being able to provide pictures!)


A man’s house is his castle and fortress, and each man’s home is his safest refuge. ~ Sir Edward Coke

Sedona, Third Day

We were on our way by 6:08am, today. The trailhead begins right out our front door across the yard. For the first half hour, we had no problem following the directions: "Straight down the path and circle around counterclockwise."

Our Goal For the Day

Well, after about 15 minutes of going up the trail, clockwise, we thought we were probably blazing a newish (not virgin: there were markers) trail.

On The Trail

Getting There

We finally arrived at a lovely viewpoint about half-way up Castle Rock. As we hiked, yesterday and today, we noticed that air currents periodically changed from warm to cool, and back again. I doubt this had anything to do with putative vortexes, but it was interesting to note them as we passed along. I also noted that I had more uphill energy than usual; but, that may simply be due to getting a good night's sleep. So, I remain agnostic on the question of vortexes in Sedona.

Taking in the View

We looked back to see where we had been.

Looking Back

We lost sight of the trail several times and were each, separately, trying to find it. We met Jim, a local, who showed us the place to catch the trail, again. We enjoyed talking to him about his experiences, here, in Phoenix, and in Alaska. He used to find oil wells around the world; but, the invention of GPS put him out of business.

We Found the Trail!

We came back to our room to find a young couple scoping out the resort as a potential wedding site. I finally noticed a tiered platform across the yard that would be perfect for holding a ceremony.

Later, an actual wedding took place, right in front of us, as we merrily read our books.

The Aisle and Wedding Train. Note our gas Barbecue.

At the Altar

May you always need one another -
not so much to fill your emptiness
as to help you to know your fullness.
A mountain needs a valley to be complete;
the valley does not make
the mountain less, but more;
and the valley is more a valley because
it has a mountain towering over it.
~ Blessing For Marriage by James Dillet Freeman