Road Trip! {Part IV}

SLOWLY but surely I will get this trip posted... and then once again be behind 2 months.  So pathetic!  Sigh!  {I have to remind myself daily that I am too busy making NEW memories with my kids to worry about how much I get posted, even though I know it would be nice for you to read and see sooner.}
The following pictures all represent Saturday, 9 July.

So... we left San Fransisco late, and got to Monterey LATE, and didn't even get to spend much time there at all.  We were only able to go to the beach for a little while in the morning, then rush back to the hotel for a quick shower, pack-up, and departure for Hearst Castle.  I didn't even get any pix of the Navy Lodge.  It was nice, though, and we definitely want to go back!

The beach was... COLD!  But you know my kids... as long as there's water around, they just CANNOT resist!  Strange little creatures, they are!  ;o)

Leaving our "footprints in the sand!"

More collecting!

Skipping more rocks!

Damian took this picture to show what smart people were wearing on the beach this day!  Haha!  Stark difference from us!

A look at the pier.

Still collecting!

We HAD to leave fairly early because we were traveling only on the Coast Hwy and we had reservations for a specific time to tour Hearst Castle.

We ended up with a sick Lexi in the car... not totally sick, but car sick enough to whine and complain about it to no end.  So... to take her mind off it we sang "99 Bottles of" MILK "On the Wall."  And I only asked them to join me for 2 verses and then I would stop.  She had a fit because I was making her MORE sick and she just couldn't handle it.  Hmmm... but she would NOT sing just 2 short verses with me to get me to stop.  EVERYONE else did.  Even Damian FINALLY joined at the very end... and she held out, literally, until the bitter end.  We sang all 99 verses and then I started on juice (instead of milk), but I couldn't hold it together.  I was laughing too hard, and my voice was gone from singing so loud.  {Because all the windows were open so Lexi could get air...}  We were all really just laughing at her.  Stinker.  She did make it without vomiting or anything, so I think she was just fine!  :o)

The coast is BEAUTIFUL and so green.  I was so tempted to stop at one of the many places along the way that offered to let us come and pick our own fresh fruit, but... we didn't have time!  Boo.

And even though we tried hard, we missed our time for the tour, but Damian was able to get us reassigned to a later one... one that left like 10 short minutes after we arrived.  So... we parked, scurried fast through the masses of people, and hopped on the tour bus for our journey up the mountainside to the "castle."  It was... something we can say we've seen.  Yep.  That's about all I feel about it.  I loved the outdoor pool, but the rest was waaaay too over the top for me.  Very excentric, VERY strange (like his collection of sarchophaguses) and very Renaissance (like the art and sculptures...  which made for some interesting discussions with our children...  haha!)
You can read more about its history and the man behind the "castle" that is now a state park here:
http://www.hearstcastle.org/history-art

It is a beautiful place at the tippy-top of the hills, surrounded by cattle and orchards.

But very... hmmm... what's the right word here??

The sitting room, filled with tapestries and amazing woodwork.

A real man's fireplace.

Dining room.  Yes, the table is longer than the lens of the camera could capture.  He was a host of many "Hollywood" parties, and for such, he needed a GIANT place to feed them all!

Man Cave.

I have to say that to me it looks like patchwork.  So many styles of architecture.  This is just not what I would dream up for my own "dream" house!

Looking down to the ocean.  It's high enough that it's often above the marine layer.

We're done, I think.  But look at the gold plated doors.  Seriously?  Can't you find something better to spend money on??

Daddy and Ella... standing next to a giant column that serves no real purpose.

We love strange animal fountains!!  ;o)

The landscaping was exceptional!  And so full of color!

The outdoor pool.  (This distinction is made because there IS an indoor pool... that rests UNDER a set of tennis courts.)

More animal sculptures.  And we must touch and pretend to pet... since I'm sure that by now the kids would much rather be at the zoo.  Haha!  (Though Lexi commented several times that she would LOVE to have this house... I don't know that she would really like it when she realized that she didn't have any friends around for MILES...)

Now this is a scene I could go for!

I love flowers!

And there was NOTHING small.  No small pictures, no small sculptures, no small tapestries, no small fireplaces, no small fountains... you get the idea!  Ella so badly wanted to just put her feet into this one!

Notice that Braeden is doing the EXACT same thing on the opposite side of the staircase.

We still haven't forgotten how important it is to "stop and smell the" flowers!

THIS is the indoor pool.  It's so still that the reflection on the water almost looks like Lexi's looking down into an arched floor, but it is actually the reflection of the ceiling on the water.  Just beyond Lexi is a marble entrance into the pool.

I don't think I would like this very much.  Too dark... almost creepy.

And the pool extends all the way back into another "room."  Doesn't Damian look so happy to be here!!  Haha!  This was the last thing on the "tour" and we got back on the bus to take us back to the visitor's center right after this.

We came, we saw... no need to repeat this tour for quite some time!

When we had eaten lunch and taken a look around the visitor's center for a while we decided to go back up the road a few miles to a cove where elephant seals hang out.  Much more interesting than a rich man's idea of decor!

The coast is really sooo beautiful!

Nothing more needs to be said.

We saw a couple out swimming, but they never came in.  And these guys were just so slothful.  They would barely move to flip cold sand onto their sun bathing bodies.  And only a few times did they get up and have a little skirmish over space... or... who knows what...

One such instance of the description above.

And another.  :o)

The babies of the group.

There were actually three groups of them.  The ones above were right in the cove area, then the middle set in the front of this picture, and beyond the kids on the other side of the cove was the third set.  Good thing they didn't fall over the fence... because notice that neither Damian nor I were down there to save them.

Ella running on the boardwalk to see something "cool."

Damian was practicing his photography skills.  Not bad.

The original group.  This is closest to the parking lot.

Lexi, Braeden, and I watching the strange creatures.

Then... we had a few squirrel visitors.  The kids fed a lolly pop to one of them, and then Ella had to go to the bathroom... so... it was time to GO!
After making a pit stop, we headed down to the Navy Lodge in Port Hueneme where we spent the night!