Summer Road Trip 2013, part one - California Central Coast

At the end of July, the week before I went back to work, we headed out on a California road trip.  We began the trip by exploring the central coast.  Our first meal on the road was at Andersen's. 

We then visited my favorite California mission, Mission La Purisima.  I like the mission because it is the only one of the 21 missions in the state that belongs to the state parks and is set up like it was during the mission period.  I've been telling Ashlynn about California history for the past few years, so she was super excited and loved it.  Carter, on the other hand, didn't really like "the old stuff".

Hides drying in the sun.

Two fourth grade teachers at a California history site ... we should TOTALLY write-off the trip on our taxes, right?  (Don't worry, I won't even try.)

Inside the church

 Soldiers' quarters

 Other rooms

 There are various animals to observe.

 

 Native Californians houses (at this mission they had housing outside of mission buildings)

 There are various water fountains, each with a different purpose.

 Ashlynn's favorite place was the dormitory for unmarried teenage girls (it looked a little like a jail to me, but I understand why).

 We think we figured out what they did there.

 Indian laundry and bath area

 After touring the grounds extensively, we drove to our hotel in Morro Bay.

A highlight of the trip for the kids was a stop at the Shell Shop.  Both kids were allowed to spend $3.00 on shells and had fun picking out just the right combination. 

 Dinner with a view

 The view of Morro rock from our hotel at sunset.  Pretty!

 The next day we drove north to Hearst Castle.  We had not pre-purchased our tickets, so we had a nearly 2 hour wait before our tour, so we drove a few miles up the coast to watch the elephant seals for a while.  The kids were delighted by these huge animals that looked like jello when they moved.

 

They are interesting to watch.  Most just lay on the beach.  Every once in a while one decides to move toward the water, which is pretty funny to watch because it requires a lot of effort and once they get going they only move 10-15 feet before flopping down for a rest.

Some like to play fight.  They remind me of Pippa and Beau (her brother) and how they seem ferocious as they chase and wrestle.

I really liked this guy and watched him for a while.

 I like this guy too.

This guy, however, wanted to go back to the car.

There were some pretty amusing, and rather aggressive, squirrels near the parking lot that were looking for hand-outs.  We obeyed the signs and didn't feed them, but they still tried to convince us.

 A close up.

We were excited to take the kids to Hearst Castle.  Someday we hope to take them to Europe, and we thought this might be a preview of that experience.

I love how the castle was started as a simple house for William Randolph Hearst, at the spot on the family ranch where they used to camp.  Twenty-eight years later, this is what became of the house.

There are 4 tours that you can take and we opted for the Grand Rooms tour, which featured the main entertaining areas of the castle.

 The living room

 The entry

 The dining room

The music room that became the game room because the family realized that no one in the family was very musical.

 The theater

 The front of "Casa Grande"

 A "cottage" (that I'm sure is larger than our house).

 The view of the Pacific

 Our favorite parts of the castle are the pools.  Here's the Neptune Pool:

 And here's the Roman Pool:

Looking back up at the castle on the bus ride back down.

 We drove north on Highway 1 and saw beautiful scenery.

 Our trip was off to a great start!