Jane and D.I. made a 2 days trip to Hearst Castle in San Simeon, about half way to L.A. along the Pacific coast,  where they have visited once about 35 years ago with Seong-Koo family. 

It was built about 50 years ago by Mr. Hearst, the founder and owner of "San Francisco Chronicle" newspaper and made a lot of money as the "Newspaper King". He visited many European castles since he was a small boy and built this castle imitating many European castles including Roman Outdoor Pool. In each room, his collections of antiques are displayed and many European style statues can be seen all around the castle. (Castlewood Country Club was a part of Hearst Castle in Bay Area. That was why it was named as "Castlewood".)

It was totally different from 35 years ago, which was only 15 years after the castle was built. There was no Visitor Center nor tour program at the time, you could drive up to the castle and just walk around the castle without any tour guide. Now, they have a large Visitor Center, 5 different bus tour programs and many tour buses connecting Visitor Center and the castle on the top of the hill, and became a quite a tourist spot with many visitors, even in the off-season Monday morning. 

They took 1 hour 40 min. Tour-1 which is mostly outside of the castle for the first time visitors but includes some inside rooms and 40 min. movie showing how the castle was built in National Geographic Theater at Visitor Center. Tour-2, Tour-3 and Tour-4 are mostly inside of the castle (all different buildings) and Tour-5 is the special evening tour operated only in Spring and fall.

If you want to visit Hearst Castle, it is highly recommended to visit www.hearst-castle.org  website and study the program in advance. It is no longer owned by Hearst family but donated to the California State Park and operated by the California State Park system.

กก

กก
They left home on 2/17 (Sunday), drove about 4 hours through Highway 101 and 46, and stayed one night in Cambria, the largest city around the area about 3 miles south from San Simeon and 6 miles south from the Hearst Castle Visitor Center, relaxing at the beautiful beach of Cambria during the rest of the day. On 2/18 Monday, they visited the Hearst Castle in the morning, spent morning time there and returned home in the afternoon through scenic drive of Highway-1 along the Pacific coast.

The Moonstone Beach Dr. of Cambria is very similar to the Mirada Road of northern Half Moon Bay  along the Pacific coast, but many times longer and with a lot more motels and inns (20 of them including "Best Western Fireside Inn" where they have stayed.) indicating there must be a lot more visitors than Half Moon Bay.

In front of the Visitor Center of the Hearst Castle. 

Aerial view of the Hearst Castle. 

กก