Day 18 - Wednesday, April 18 - More Cambria

We visited the Hearst Castle, just north of Cambria, today. This opulent mansion was built from 1919 to 1947 and is a reflection of the massive wealth and extravagance of America’s most wealthy at that time.
It is now a museum, owned by the State of California.
It was designed to be like a little Spanish village with the guest areas modelled on a typical Spanish house. We went through one that had 18 bedrooms and 18 bathrooms - just amazing.
The main outdoor pool is also incredible. It is modelled on Roman ruins, like those found outside many Spanish or Italian towns.
The main house is designed to be like a Spanish church.
It reminded us a lot of Portugal and some of the villages we visited there - only much more opulent and clean and with nothing falling down.
The house and gardens are full of antiquities and other pieces of fine art. The front door , for example, was from a Spanish convent.
The huge main living area (modelled on the great hall in a castle) and the dining room feature wooden panelling from European churches, huge tapestries from England and Europe and beautifully carved ceilings also taken from European palaces.
The whole lot shows the massive wealth and America’s prime place in the world at that time.
Billionaire William Randolph Hearst built the mansion and lived there with his mistress while his wife and children lived in New York. He also had a private zoo - and the ranch around the museum (which is still owned by the Hearst Corporation) still has elk, zebra and barbary sheep, as well as the cattle.
The tour of the castle, which lasted about an hour-and-a-half, was well worth it.
We then headed back up the coast about 5km to a viewing point for Elephant seals. You can actually see these animals on the beaches for quite a long stretch on this part of the highway.
The viewing point was an excellent spot to be able to watch the animals. We also really enjoyed that.
All that’s left for now is for us to pack and get ready to head back to LA tomorrow and our flights out. We’ll be back in Australia on Saturday morning - what a wonderful holiday!
Carlene

Day 17 - Tuesday, April 6 - Cambria

We spent today exploring the little town of Cambria - a slower day after the big day of travelling down the coast on Monday. We started with a walk along the small cliff at the end of our street. The upper edges have been planted with a variety of wildflowers.
The beach is grey sand/gravel - like a lot of the beaches in England and parts of Europe. I always find it really odd to be on a beach that is not sandy white/yellow. The girls enjoyed paddling in the small estuarine creek that runs alongside the main beach and into the ocean. They said the water was freezing - personally I wasn’t risking it.
The beach is a driftwood preservation area, so it was covered in beautiful huge whitened logs and other things thrown up from the sea.
We then spent the afternoon exploring the interesting galleries and shops of Cambria before walking back to the house via a trail through some woods.
Carlene

Day 16 - Monday, April 6 - to Cambria

We left beautiful Muir Beach today and travelled down the Highway 1 coastal route to a sleepy coastal town called Cambria.
We started off with a quick visit to Muir Woods - it had been too wet to get to the woods on Sunday so we started off there. The woods had huge stands of coastal Californian redwoods - the tallest trees in the world. They were spectacular but I didn’t think they were as impressive as the giant Sequoias in Yosemite’s Mariposa Grove.
We then cut across the San Francisco peninsula to Monterey and then followed the coast down.
It is a great coastal drive with beautiful cliffs, rocks and seascapes, as well as impressive forests and mountains.
It was a gorgeous blue skies day and so everything looked even more spectacular.
The road in places was a bit scary - it was starting to break off in parts and even went down to one lane in several places to avoid the part that was in poor repair.
They are working to fix the road in many places.
We arrived in Cambria just in time to pick up the key for the house, which has a lovely view across the ocean. We ate out at a very typical American grill. Food came in massive serves - we had the small serve of ribs - 7 each. They were good but the ranch beans with them were a bit sweet. The girls didn’t like the chips very much. It was an experience I guess we had to have but I wouldn’t be rushing back there.
A lot of the food here in the US is very sweet. We have struggled to find bread without sugar - and had some so sweet (molasses, honey and sugar in it)) that we couldn’t eat it (even the girls complained).
For those who have been asking, we did not feel the earthquake from southern Mexico at all. Thank goodness - we were right on top of the San Andreas fault in Muir Beach!
Carlene

Day 15 - Sunday, April 4 - San Francisco

I hope you guys liked the video I took of the penguin pushing the younger looking penguin in. Yesterday we went to the Aquarium and the Museum we were going to go to the Planetarium but they said only if you have passes. We had a great time but it was raining, which made it a bit worse when we were trying to get to the car. We went on the lift, which made a big difference. I miss you all seeya.
ELLEN!!!!!!!!!

Day 15 - Sunday, April 4 - More San Francisco

It was wild, windy and rainy again today. I think San Francisco’s motto must be beautiful one day, rainy the next. The view from our house changed again - it’s been great to see the changing mood of the sea from our windows. We went to the Californian Academy of Science museum today. It has a range of exhibits including a rainforest in a giant dome and an aquarium. The girls really enjoyed all of the displays - especially the one on climate change and the display of African penguins (Ellen took the video below). The museum is well set up but it was packed today as it was wet and they had just launched a new exhibit, which we could not get tickets to see as they had sold out. We also couldn’t get into the Planetarium. But the rest of the museum was really good - especially some parts of the aquarium featuring the marine life of southern and northern California. Ross and Sussana also visit the De Young Museum of Modern Art, which is just across from the science museum. Both museums are in Golden Gate Park - which looked great but given the extremely wet conditions we weren’t tempted out to explore (mind you that doesn’t seem to stop the locals who we saw bike riding and jogging in the pouring and very cold rain). We then went for a drive through some of the incredibly hilly San Francisco streets and past all the Victorian houses. We finished up with a drive down Lombard Street (the really crooked street). Then it was back across the Golden Gate bridge to our house. The bridge is just as impressive from on top as it is from the water and it was good to get to go across it both ways as we travelled from Muir Beach to San Francisco and back again. Tomorrow we leave this lovely city early in the day. I can understand why people always say you will love San Francisco - it really is a lovely city. Carlene

Day 13-14 - Friday, April 2, and Saturday, April 3 - San Francisco

We have spent the last two days in San Francisco and seen the weather extremes for which the city is renowned. Yesterday we awoke to wild wind and rain. It was freezing outside.
As Ross was recovering from a severe head cold and the girls were tired of travel we decided to spend the day in the house at Muir Beach. It’s a great place for such a day. We watched the rain showers come across the ocean and the wild waves pound onto the beach. We also watched the birds of prey that circled above the nearby cliffs. The girls enjoyed the day playing with the Wii console in the downstairs kids retreat area.
Today was still cold but delightfully sunny. We firstly went to Sausalito and spent a bit of time wandering around the art galleries and other shops before taking the ferry across to San Francisco. The ferry is a great way to really appreciate the beauty of the city and gave us a great view of the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz prison.
We then walked along the harbour from Pier 1 right up to Pier 41 and Fisherman’s Wharf. We had lunch at one of the establishments along the way - with a rather surly waitress. I had delicious mussels and clams cooked with chilli, garlic and lemon.
The sea lions at Pier 39 were great to see - unbelievable to see them in such an urban environment.
We then took another ferry back to Sausalito and then celebrated the girls’ birthday with dinner at an Italian restaurant there. It was great and the waiters brought out a tiramisu cake and sang Happy Birthday to the girls.
Ross and Sussana gave the girls these lovely handbags Susanna had made for their birthdays. We bought them some things during the day - books for both and a hat and left-handed pen for Ellen. Katherine couldn’t choose anything she wanted - so hopefully we can persuade her to get something in the next few days.
Carlene

Day 12 - Thursday, April 1 - to San Francisco

Today we said goodbye to the wonderful house at Cascadel. It has been a lovely relaxed house in a beautiful environment and we have enjoyed exploring the local area as well as Yosemite. You could stay here for six months and not get close to visiting all the spectacular places and walking some of the trails in this area. Many were still closed because the snow had not yet melted.
We then set off for San Francisco - about a four-hour drive back through the San Joaquin Valley. The rich agricultural region again impressed - we passed miles and miles of nut and fruit orchards with perfectly straight lines of trees that stretched as far as the eye could see. I haven’t seen anything like the scale of these operations before. We also saw some more of the huge dairy farms and huge expanses of crops and lucerne for feeding to the cows.
We then travelled up through the hills and into San Francisco. The eastern side of these hills was literally covered in wind farms. There wasn’t a tree in sight but the wind farms and the accompanying power pylons were like forests on the side of the hill.
We have all been amazed by the American houses and the way they are built to consume power. Both the houses we have stayed in have been poorly insulated and basically designed to have the air conditioning (whether cooling in LA or warming in Cascadel) operating all the time. They are also designed to consume water - with huge bathrooms (though in Cascadel they did have water saving shower heads).
Our final destination today was the house at Muir Beach - which is north of San Francisco. We didn’t go over the Golden Gate Bridge but the Bay Bridge to get here. The whole bay area was beautiful - and the suburbs of San Francisco reminded me a lot of Sydney with the undulating streets leading down to the bay.
Muir Beach is about 30 minutes north. The road winds around one of the bay inlets until it comes around to the ocean.
This house is spectacular. It sits atop the ridge and looks out onto the Pacific Ocean and back across to San Francisco. It is beautifully set up with loads of skylights and windows (double glazed) to let in light. Both the main bedrooms have been designed with double doors that can be opened into the main living area to look out across the ocean view.
It was bright and sunny but the wind was very cold when we arrived and we walked to the beach and had a look around. We then spent time just watching from the living area - with Pacific gulls and hawks circling around and even a little hummingbird coming onto the deck. We could also see the giant container ships making their way into the bay. At night the lights of San Francisco sparkled across the water.
We had dinner at the only commercial establishment at Muir Beach - the Pelican Inn, which is an English pub. The food was pricey and not that great but the atmosphere was good.
Carlene