February 28, 2009

A Few Things on the California Coast

Saturday was an amazing day...Brett and I got in the truck around 11am, and started to head up the coast. Seriously, the drive is just beautiful, even on the 101. The mountains are so pretty, and I hope that everyone that comes to visit me, gets to see how majestic it is out in CA.

After a little bit of driving, we got really hungry, and after grabbing a sandwich, we found a nice spot on Pismo Beach to eat. It was a clear and sunny day, and the beach was the perfect spot. I hope that I can remember how wonderful and calming it was...can you just imagine spending a Saturday afternoon on the beach with a good book. Yeah, I'll have to add that to my list of things to do. :)



We continued up the coast towards San Simeon. We had a little time to kill before our next stop, so we went to visit the Elephant Seals. I was kind of expecting it to be similar to the ones that we'd seen in Carpenteria in January, but oh no, not the same. These things are big, smelly, loud and not very visually appealing...but I'm glad that we went nonetheless. We read on the info signs that it was the end of the mating season....and well, yeah, we got to experience that, live and in person. I'll save your precious ears and not post the video that someone (not naming names) took while we were there.




Our chosen destination for the afternoon was Hearst Castle. I hadn't ever heard of this before, or WR Hearst, but trusted Brett that this would be something fun for us to do. I must say that I was a little hesitant, as I'd toured a few castles in Europe in college, and thought "once you've seen one castle, you've seen them all", but I was delightfully proven wrong. This home was ridiculously humongous, and on Tour 2, we got to see a few of the 42 guest rooms, a few libraries, the kitchen, and the pools. It really was spectacular, and we had a really nice time on the tour.

We also brought out the tripod and snapped a few pics with the beautiful landscapes.




After the tour was over, we drove about 15 more minutes up the 1, to "where it gets fun", according to Brett, and pulled off somewhere semi-safe, for one more photo opp.


We finished off the evening with a nice dinner at The Ragged Point Inn, before heading back home. I'm so glad that we took the camera(s) to have some beautiful images to remember our day together.

6 comments:

jamiedelaine said...

SO CUTE. I'm in love with your blog Annemarie. Hah! That last photo is perfect of you two. I've been to Hearst Castle! Love it! California Coast is beautiful.

Marisa said...

LOVE hearst castle - how fun!! i too love the last photo...you guys are so cute :)

Anonymous said...

Sometime you'll have to drive the 1 north of San Fransisco...that's when the coast becomes amazing. Good to see you saw Hearst Castle! I want to go back, last time I was there was 8 years ago.

Brett Bollman said...

Thanks for such a wonderful day! I love experiencing new things with you... can't wait for more!

Anonymous said...

those elephant seals are crazy smelly. we went right when the pups were born and there were tons of gulls eating the placenta, etc. it was sick but i am grateful they do that, it helps the smell.

i'm excited for you moving here!!! =D

All About the Arredondos said...

Beautiful pictures!!! WOW! Looks like an amazing day :) Is this the same Hearst's as in the publishing Co and the kidnapping of Patti Hearst?