Castle in the air

San Luis Obispo, CA – In the late 1800s, a well-to-do mother took her 10-year-old son on a year’s trip to Europe, and exposed him to a world of art and literature and history that left an indelible imprint on his mind. Today, we visited the home that this son grew up to build, and it was amazing.

William Randolph Hearst was the boy, and, as a man, he built an empire of newspapers, magazines, films, and technology that still exists today. His father had been a miner with a knack for locating treasures from the ground – lead, copper, and silver – and his hard work and persistence sowed the seeds of affluence for his family’s future.

“The Ranch” was the name Hearst used for his home, but anyone who has been there would use the name it bears today, Hearst Castle.  Set high on a hill with a sweeping view of the surrounding hills and the ocean below, the Mediterranean style buildings are set off by terraces, fountains, gardens, pools, royal palms and tall cypress trees.

Inside the buildings are countless art objects from the collections of statues, paintings, tapestries, furniture, ceilings and carved wall panels Hearst had assembled over the years.  They are displayed in opulent rooms with windows overlooking the ocean or courtyards.

In its heyday, the castle was a venue for parties and social gatherings for high society, where film stars, business moguls and political icons rubbed shoulders on the tennis court or the paneled library.  When that era ended, Hearst donated the castle to the state of California so that everyone could come and enjoy its art and beauty – and they do by the thousands every year.

Our day of touring included the grand rooms on the ground floor as well as the upper level bedrooms, guestrooms, library and office, and the grounds which we were welcome to stroll through.  There was also an excellent movie telling the story of the castle and Hearst’s life that we enjoyed at the end.

Before leaving that section of the Pacific Coast, which was a 40-mile drive from our RV park, we had to stop and see the beach, just beyond the castle, where hundreds of elephant seals sojourn when their babies are being born, nursed and weaned.

Great shrieks, barks and yelps echoed up from the sandy shore below our viewing spot, where large brown and grey blobs were scattered about.  These were the seals, lolling about, sleeping, and galumphing from one spot to another. Some of the male seals – the only ones to grow the floppy proboscis that earns them the “elephant” name – weigh up to 5000 pounds and are more than 10 feet long!  We learned that, for the entire three months that they spend on the beach, they eat nothing, and their migration patterns cover a huge expanse of the ocean where they swim, solo, submerging sometimes for 20 minutes before coming up again for air.  Isn’t nature amazing?