California Route 1 and Monterey

Our day begins almost immediately on Highway 1 today. We are heading to see the Hearst Castle, San Simeon, at San Luis Obispo which is about 30 miles up the highway.
Another beautiful day, we arrive at the Hearst Castle, not really a Castle but a Huge Mansion and surrounding buildings. We take a bus up the 5 mile driveway cut into the hillside leading to the top. William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper Magnate of the early 1900's began construction on this estate in 1919 on the property where his family camped when he was a child, owned by his father, it was a

working ranch, the land around the mansion is still owned by the family. It is an interesting story, to long to go into here, just google him. There is artwork and Ceilings and Fireplaces in the mansion from the Hearst collection from all over the world, well worth the price of Admission, we toured the 1st floor of the main house and the gardens, concluding at the indoor pool with Gold Mosaic tiles. The architect Julia Morgan and Hearst worked on it's design and construction for 28 years till 1947. Today it is owned by the State of California, donated to the state by Hearst's sons after his death in 1951 due to the high cost of maintenance.
The rest of the day was taken up driving Highway 1 the winding, twisting, narrow, cliff edge highway that is literally right on the coast and cliffs of California. Truly a panoramic view around every corner, many stops for pictures and 1 to see the seals on the shoreline.
We ended the night in Monterey, we only had the evening there but we sought out some live music and had dinner and even danced a bit,

a great day to be sure.
The next day June 15th we did some final errands and headed to San Jose for the Wedding of Noel's Nephew Matt and Samantha, we stayed at the Fairmont a beautiful downtown Hotel. We began Saturday visiting Noel's Uncle Ed and Aunt Jo and cousins from the Conley side, who live in San Jose, last seen by Noel 4 years ago, a fun time and great hospitality. The wedding was held at the Santa Clara Mission, one of the Original 12 Missions, this one founded in 1777, we were in San Jose for 3 days kept busy with the wedding and other things relating to the wedding.