Adventure: Hearst Castle

Earlier this week a friend that's in LA for work contacted me asking if I wanted to check out Hearst Castle on Saturday. I've heard of it a few times through word of mouth but never actually looked up the history of the castle or who William Randolph Hearst was(it was kind of embarrassing); we looked up a quick history of both so we wouldn't be totally lost.

The castle was built on a ranch in San Simeon, California...about 4 hours north of LA...when Hearst had aged and was "tired" of camping in tents on the land that looked over the Pacific Ocean. He thought of a place of grand scale and endless possibilities. Seriously, anything he wanted, he got. Hearst also changed his mind a ridiculous amount of times that it took about 28 years for the castle to be "complete" before he passed about in 1951.

The landscaping and gardens that surround the castle are extraordinarily beautiful. 

There are many tours that you can take to explore the rooms and ground of the castle. We decided to take the Upstairs Rooms tour. It was fantastic. It showed us a couple libraries, Hearst's office, a few bedrooms(the closets were a dream), the gardens, and the pools(both indoor and out).

One of the many libraries.

The ceilings in most of the rooms(if not all) were all painted wood ceilings from churches in Italy. Who knew it could be possible to do such a thing?!

Hearst's Office

Very European.

The mosaic as the top of both of a bell towers really made the blue sky and while stone pop. 

Those palm trees though. 

The bright colored flowers, the golden touches, and the Pacific Ocean. What a perfect place to live.

Gotcha! 

The indoor pool. Has anyone ever seen the movie Annie, where they go swimming in Daddy Warbucks indoor pool? Yeah, this totally reminded me of that pool. 

The blue and gold combination was beyond perfection.

On the way back to LA we stopped at a beach where we noticed some kite surfers. They were so impressive and it makes me want to start some surfing lessons. Who wants to teach me?!

Windblown.

We had some much fun on this adventure that we can't wait to start planning our next one. We are either thinking San Diego or Las Vegas...I have never been to Las Vegas and I feel like I need to experience it once in my life time. I'll probably be stuck at the penny slots and quarter slots because I can't play any card games to save my life. 

Do you have any ideas on where we should adventure to next?!