San Jose to Los Angeles (Thursday - Friday)

Rumours were true. Not only was there no Internet access in Cambria where we stayed last night but even the mobile phone was out of operation. So this entry covers our trip from Amelia and Kevin's home on Thursday to our arrival in Los Angeles this evening.

It was a cold, foggy drive down the Big Sur coastline yesterday. We saw some great sights but the most amazing views were concealed beneath dense fog. It took us about five hours to get down to Hearst Castle but we decided to check into our hotel just south of there and do the Castle on Friday morning.

We did find the elephant seal colony that has set itself up right near the highway and we stopped to see them playing, well fighting really. Above is Sienna freezing on the beach with the elephant seals.


After lunch in a Cambria diner where the locals were recapping the Halloween party the night before, we checked into the San Simeon Pines Resort, built in 1960, and still in its original condition! Derek and Sienna had a game of shuttleboard next to the croquet pitch. We then went for a walk around the resort, past the small scale golf course and along the beach. After checking out the sea otters floating offshore, we beat it back to the heater in the hotel room.




We got up early on Friday and joined the 9.20 tour of Hearst Castle. Both Stephanie and Derek had been here before, separately, at the beginning of the nineties. The facilities have been considerably upgraded and W. R. Hearst's biography seems to be lacking details of certain events that were present last time we visited, but the pillages of European civilisation can't fail to impress.






We finished up at Heast Castle at 11.30 am and then headed down to Los Angeles. Five hours later, we arrived at Marina Del Rey which adjoins Venice and Santa Monica beaches.