William Hearst Castle

A fog horn awoke me this morning, for a minute I thought we were back in Canada where we heard that sound often. I do not expect the weather to be all that great this weekend what with rain coming in this afternoon. Yesterday we took one of the five tours offered at this castle and saw only a very small part of the grounds and estate. Unfortunately, because of the fog, our vision was somewhat  limited of the beautiful countryside surrounding what Hearst called his "Enchanted Hill". That is evident in this picture John took of the Casa Grande, or the main building.

The facade of the Casa Grande was inspired by the Santa Maria la Mayor cathedral in Rhonda Spain. William Hearst toured Europe extensively as a young boy and fell in love with the castles, art and culture which he saw there. His Dad, George Hearst, made his millions as a miner and with his fortunes bought up large portions of land in California. Out of all his land holdings his only son William loved the land which was situated on a crest of the Santa Lucia mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean. That is where he built his dream castle which became popularly known as San Simeon. He and his architect Julia Morgan collaborated for  27 years on its construction, starting in 1919. The estate eventually came to include the Casa Grande, three guest houses, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, gardens, tennis courts, even an exotic zoo. Below is a picture of the Neptune pool, which was created from various pieces of his vast art collection.

William Hearst received from his father the San Francisco Examiner and after that further enlarged his publishing empire by purchasing other newspapers and magazines. He then expanded into newsreel and movie productions, even forging an alliance with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for about eleven years. Consequently the guest list at his ranch in the 1920s and 1930s included a  fairly impressive group of people which included European royalty, journalists, aviators, politicians, Hollywood celebrities and athletes. Besides wining and dining them well, he also offered such activities as swimming,tennis and billiards. He even had a theater room to run movies. Below is his indoor Roman swimming pool of which every surface is a mosaic of hammered gold and delicate Venetian glass tiles.

One last picture here is of the Refectory, or dining room. It is decorated with vivid Italian racing banners, tapestries, and numerous silver pieces. I think this estate tops anything else we have seen on our travels!

Morro Bay Harbor

We are now parked a bit north of San Luis Obispo in the town of Morro Bay. We left Buelleton with the sun shinning quite brightly on us. Consequently we were quite surprised to be greeted with a thick fog when we drove into the rv park here in Morro Bay. The park is within walking distance of the ocean, so maybe we should not be surprised that it is socked in by fog. It did not seem as thick when we drove into the town of Murro Bay. The town has a population of 10,00 people. Here is a picture of the town looking toward it from the rv park.

We were pleasantly surprised to find out that Morro Bay does have a Lutheran church where we could attend Ash Wednesday services. Pastor Berg and the congregation of Calvary Lutheran were quite welcoming to us. The large rock pictured below can be seen from where we are parked. It seemed fitting to come within such close proximity to it at the beginning of the Lenten season- a sure reminder that Christ is the rock of our salvation! The 576 foot guard stands watch over Morro Bay Harbor. Some have dubbed it "The Gibralter of the Pacific".

From the late 1800's Morro Rock had been used as a source of materials for breakwaters throughout the state. The years of quarrying have forever changed the shape of the monolith, and yet it still covers 50 acres at its base. Fortunately in 1968, after extensive citizen effort, it was declared a State Historical Landmark. It is now a refuge for the Peregrine Falcon and climbing on the rock itself is illegal.

Santa Rosa Park

We just could not leave this area until we tasted the wine products of this area. The movie Sideways has some scenes located on the Santa Rosa road so that was the road we took. We passed by the ostrich farm mentioned in the movie. By the way, there are also llama, alpaca, and miniature pony farms in this valley of the Santa Ynez mountains. The Santa Rosa road has been described in some travel brochures as "bucolic". Below is a common scene on this road. That is cattle on the hillside.

 We did our wine tasting at the Alma Rosa winery, one of the oldest wineries in the area.

No, this is not a joke. Remember I said "one of the oldest"?  The building is certainly not like the wine tasting rooms we saw Sunday- those are more modern and classier. However, we did taste some fine wine at the Alma Rosa. And without the crowds, the staff was able to give us the needed time to understand their different wines. In the movie Miles shows some wine snobbery by describing a wine as having "citrus,strawberry, the faintest soupcon of asparagus and just a flutter of a nutty edam cheese" We can do him one better; we tasted a wine yesterday which the winery describes the essence as being one of "beet roots meets cola".  John and I have a long way to go in learning the science of wine tasting! We did see the movie Sideways again last evening and it is not one we would encourage you to go out and rent. It is typical Hollywood fare, but does have great scenes of the countryside and  good discussions on wine tasting. We ended our afternoon at the Nojoqui Falls County Park. Usually the falls have little to no water flowing over the gorge, but it has rained recently and consequently the falls were awesome to view.

Santa Barbara Wine Country

We started our day Sunday in worship services at the above church, Bethania Lutheran in Solvang. The Danish Lutherans who settled in this town erected this church in 1928. They built the structure by following a photograph of a typical rural church in Denmark. Also, in keeping with the traditions of their homeland, they hung a fully rigged model ship from the ceiling in the nave. It is symbolic of a haven of safety across the waters of life.After church we dined at the Solvang Restaurant in town. A scene from the movie Sideways was filmed there. Actually, in the whole area where we have been touring around in the past few days there have been at least 18 locations that were used for scenes in that movie. A.J. Spurs is another restaurant  in the area where a scene for that movie was shot.

The movie Sideways is a story of Miles (played by Paul Giamatti) and Jack (played by Thomas Haden Church) who go on a wine tasting road trip salute to Jack's final days as a bachelor. The Santa Barbara Wine Country has at least 70 wine tasting room and wineries. I read in the Santa Ynez Valley News this past week that the locals are not too happy with the fact that those places have been increasing in their community. On our drive through the countryside after dinner we saw fields after fields of vineyards. We had no idea which wineries to stop at so we picked a couple places which Miles and Jack chose, all located on Foxen Canyon road. They were the Fess Parker and the Foxen wineries. It seems that the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah are the main grape varietals in this wine country. We certainly picked the wrong day- wine tasting was nearly  impossible because of the many people out. It was Valentines day as well as being a long holiday week-end! We did not even bother wine tasting but just purchased a couple of bottles of wine and left at the Fess Parker wine tasting room. Even if stopping at the wineries was a bust we did enjoy our drive through the scenic countryside. My last picture here is of the Days Inn located in the town of Buellton. It also was a site in the movie Sideways. John and I have seen that movie but certainly want to see it again after having been in this area.

Santa Barbara California

This is a view of the beautiful city of Santa Barbara looking out over the city toward the ocean. Many of the buildings are whitewashed and have red-tiled roofs. We took this picture from the clock tower of the county courthouse. In 1925 a great earthquake ruined much of the city. A bold new courthouse was proposed to inspire the city to rebuild in the dramatic Mediterranean style. The courthouse itself is an architectural wonder and in 20005 was recognized as a National Historic Landmark. It is a fine example of Spanish-Moorish architecture. There are specially designed windows, staircases and balconies. Paintings and brilliant tiles adorn the stairways and walls.The entrance is graced with a Roman-style arch. We were encouraged by the staff to look at the second floor. Here, in the assembly room, large murals depict the history of the county. I wanted to take the stairs down from there, and, as I started down the circular stairway, I found myself outside and descending into a beautiful garden area.

The picture here of a corner of the courthouse shows the clock tower and stairway that opens to the outside. The wonderful smell of that blooming saucer magnolia greeted me as I walked into this garden setting. The plants of the courthouse comprise an outstanding collection of palms and exotic plants from around the world. I am sure there was a lot we missed in touring both the courthouse and the gardens. We should have planned ahead and taken a guided tour. We did take a guided tour at the mission of Santa Barbara.

This is not the original church. The first several buildings were built of adobe, each larger than the other. After the earthquake of 1812 the present church was built. This one was built to withstand earthquakes. It is believed that a master mason  from Mexico was hired to build it. He used drawings form a building erected at the time of the Roman Empire as his guide. Consequently the church is neoclassical in style. Its decorative devises and features were considered appropriate for a temple dedicated to a goddess. The " female" architectural attributes was fitting as this church is dedicated to Santa Barbara. It was completed in 1820. This information was given to us by our Mary, our guide for the tour of the mission. This mission is one of the best preserved of all the missions. It has the original living quarters of the missionaries. In the rooms are some wonderful collections of pottery, baskets and tools used by the Chumash Indians, the first residents of this mission. The church's carved wooden railings, decorative motifs on the ceilings and walls are also very reflective of the native's culture, which for me made it quite an awesome church. Below is a picture of Christ and  Mary Magdalene which is located at the rear of the church. Those two figures impressed me, they seemed so lifelike and Mary is portrayed as a wealthy woman adorned with jewelry.

La Purisima Mission State Historic Park

This historic site is located near the city of Lompoc. Between 1788 and 1812 the original mission was located on an earthquake fault( where the city of Lumpoc currently is located) and destroyed by an earthquake in 1812. The present mission was moved three miles north and continued for another 20 years until the Mexicans took the land from Spain.

By 1846 little remained of the mission and in the ensuing years it had many owners. In 1934 the mission was donated to the state by the Catholic church. It was the Civilian Conservation Corps (working with the National Park Service and the state) that made the La Purisima Mission the most complete mission restoration project. The mission is a huge complex complete with gardens and animal pens. We could see that it has been well kept up. If we had wanted to do so, there are hiking paths we could have taken up into the nearby hills. Unfortunately there is no shade on those paths so they did  not look too inviting under the afternoon sun. What is sad about this mission is that its future is uncertain. The Governor of California wants to sell it to a private concern (there is plenty of land here to put in a hotel and golf course,heaven forbid). The other rumor I heard is that the Catholic church may buy it back. The last picture I have posted here is of the Indian lavanderia.

There is  a center fountain which, in the 1800s, held filtered water for drinking and cooking. Excess water flowed into two lavenderias which the Indians used for bathing and washing clothes. The Europeans at the mission did not believe in frequent bathing and thought it strange that the Indians did!

Lompoc, California

There is one more street scene of Slovang which I want to post here before leaving that town. It gives the flavor of the Danish influence on area,as seen in this mural on a store's wall.

 Now on to the town of Lumpoc which is located about twenty miles from our home. This town is noted for its numerous murals. We did not even have to search for them. Initially we drove through the center of town and thought we had seen the majority of them. We stopped to make some purchases at a farmer's market and I saw  more murals down a side street. I kept walking and a local resident pointed out others to me. Some have been painted in recent years and others were so old they have started fading. One very large mural caught my eye. It had pictures of the ocean floor with men who were doing some kind of mining. Reading the plaque next to the mural I discovered that the mural celebrated the town's 100 years of diatomaceous mining. John reads very issue of  National Geographic, seems to know everything, so I asked him what was diatomaceous mining. It is the mining of what use to be on the ocean floor, as microscopic marine shells. The final product has many uses;  it can be made into a polishing substance, used in beverage production, and also has a value in medicine. The murals of the town covered other aspects of the town's history as well as scenes of the Santa Ynez Valley in which the town is is located.
Here is a couple of the murals which I saw.

 

By the way, that is not a real artist on the ladder, he is painted on  the wall. Sissy's cafe is the real deal. We did not stop to eat there, but it is a well known eatery in Lompoc.

Driving out of town we decided to check out Chaotic Exotics, an orchid farm we had passed by earlier in the day. It was closing time for the farm, but its owner was still there and let us in to look at  his orchids.  He has 3,000 square feet of 1,000 different kinds of orchids. I inquired about the cost for one plant (John did say he wanted to purchase flowers for me for Valentine's Day). I was informed that the cost ranges from $25.00 all the way up to $1,000.00! After learning further about their care and that one bloom happens about once a year, I decided that I did not want a orchid all that bad. Maybe if I was in a home that was not always on the move it would not be a bad idea! We also stopped at a lavender farm before heading home. Here we learned how the lavender flower is distilled and made into such products as soaps and lotions. A drop of the oil in  bath water will calm a fussy baby, as well as a  stressed-out adult. Now that is a useful product!

Solvang California

Wednesday we moved our home north. We took the coastal highway 101 winding our way among the foothills of Southern California and through the city of Santa Barbara. Suffice it for me to say it was a beautiful drive, not only with the green beauty of the hills, but also with vistas of the ocean. Along the way we saw orchards of citrus fruit and big fields of strawberries. I am thrilled with the rv resort which is presently our home because from our windows we have a great view of the Santa Ynez mountains. Above I have posted a picture of that view. It is a nice break from the big city. Today we drove into the town of Solvang. This town has one of the last missions founded by the Spanish, Santa Ines in 1804. A picture of the mission is posted below.

We spent most of our day seeing the sights of Solvang. It is a very charming town with a European feel to it. It was settled by Danish immigrants who moved from Iowa at the turn of the 20th century. They were determined to keep the art and culture from their homeland, and that influence can still be seen today in Solvang. Consequently the town is very much into honoring Hans Christian Andersen. We found his statue in one of the city parks- that same bust of him can also be found in his museum located in a book store in the town.

Also in the town is a statue of the little mermaid, a character in one of his stories.

There were two little interesting  facts which I picked up regarding Andersen while touring the museum. The first was that in the 1840s he met the singer Jenny Lind and courted her. Unfortunately she viewed him only like a brother. It was his third unrequited love so he ended up a lonely man. Second, in Denmark, papirklip is the folk art of cutting paper pictures. Andersen was skilled in doing it, so was considered not only to be a writer but also an artist. I enjoyed touring the little museum dedicated to him and his work. Reading about how he came to write many of his stories made me want to read his work again so I purchased a small book of some of his writings.

Historic Sites at L.A. Arboretum

In the previous posting I mentioned these falls which are present in the garden. They are quite beautiful with the foliage and flowers around them. One other item I wish to mention here is that I found an avocado tree in the garden.  It is in the evergreen family and can reach eighty feet in height. I am not sure how I thought avocados grew, but I was surprised to know they grew on a tree! Just like in Hawaii when I discovered there was not a pineapple tree (they grow on a plant).  Traveling does have its educational benefits! There is a Queen Anne cottage located in the gardens. Elias Jackson ( a business man owning hotels and the Santa Anita Racetrack) built the cottage in 1881. He built it as a gift for his fourth wife. They mainly used it for entertaining. There is no kitchen in the home, any cooking was done in an adobe building which is located near the house. Major restoration work was done on the cottage in 1951. The house is opened to the public only a few times a year. However it is possible to see a good deal of the interior just by looking in the windows. A picture of the house is posted below. Also in this historic area of the gardens is a coach barn and an old train depot.

The back of the house faces Baldwin Lake, which I wrote about in yesterday's posting. As I was enjoying the view by the lake I noticed a couple of wood ducks sitting on rocks near me. Since they seemed so willing to pose, I snapped a picture of them.

The gardens also have peacocks running around. We had the opportunity to see one male do a courtship dance with his colorful feathers fanned out. The dance amounted to what seemed to be a  intense shivering of his whole body. Of course, once the female peacocks around him strolled away, he stopped his amorous activities. After we left the gardens John wanted to view some snow capped mountains. We headed into the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. Traveling that much further made it a late day for us but it was worth the trip.

L.A. County Arboretum and Botanic Garden

Originally I thought it a bit crazy to see another garden. And yet, given that we had another sunny day begging to be enjoyed, an arboretum seemed the right place to tour. Our Triple AAA Tour Book rated this a gem and, as they are always right, we headed for the LA Botanic Garden. It was easy to find the place once we realized that the Santa Anita Race Track was across the boulevard from the gardens- all we had to do was follow the signs to the race track! With the San Gabriel mountains as a backdrop these gardens are located in a beautiful natural setting, as you may notice in the picture below. We took this picture on a hill overlooking the gardens. The gardens are dotted with tall palm trees, some of which are located in the center of this picture.

It may be winter time and there are a lot of plants and trees not blooming in the garden at this time of the year, but there are still plenty of them flowering as you may note in the foreground of this picture. The garden has their trees and shrubs arranged by continent. We especially enjoyed the Africa and Australian areas. This patch of aloe from Africa was very striking with  its array of bright orange blooms.

We also saw many of the species of the Wattle tree, from Africa (found also in Australia and India). This is a member of the acacia family. And it was my favorite in the whole garden. Its flowers are like soft pom-poms and its leaves are quite delicate in appearance and also soft to touch. Its name seems all wrong, maybe in Swahili wattle means "mighty fine and pretty tree".

I have so many pictures to chose from to post here, it is a hard choice. The magnolia grove was breathtaking, even if the trees have lost a lot of their blooms.  And standing in the middle of them we noticed the most wonderful flowery perfume-like smell!

We spent about three hours in this garden.  Besides the trees and foliage there are waterfalls and a small natural lake fed by underground springs, so I still have more to write about and pictures to post. Will continue this tomorrow, but before I leave this I want to show some of the garden's orchids.

Walt Disney Concert Hall

We headed out for downtown Los Angeles on Friday despite the fact that the weather did not seem too promising. We rode the Metro downtown and walked about eight blocks.The weather was rather nasty with a cool wind, and a very heavy downpour. But it was fun walking the downtown streets, taking in the sights and a sounds of a big city. It was lunchtime so the smells were not all that bad either. We stopped in the historic Bradbury office building. It was built in 1893 and has a reputation of being one of Los Angeles' most prestigious office buildings. The center court is filled with natural light falling from the glass roof five stories up. Offices open onto the balconies surrounding the court. The entire area is covered with ornately designed railings of wrought iron giving the illusion of hanging vegetation. Two open cage elevators rise toward the roof. Quite a beautiful place to work!  We finally arrived at the Disney Center, only to discover that the last tour of the day was in progress. Fortunately we were able to join the group. Back we went out again in the rain while the tour guide explained the architectural features of the building. The outside of the building is all curves and angles. The stainless steels panels have some give to them to withstand earthquakes. Our guide claimed that the building is the safest place in Los Angeles to be during an earthquake.

Lillian Disney(Walt Disney's wife) put out the initial funds for the building. She wanted a world class music center as as a gift to the city as well as a tribute to her husband's devotion to the arts.  She worked closely with Frank Ghery the architect she hired to build the center. The end result is quite impressive. The outside  appears very cold and austere but  inside it is all warm and organic (as the guide described the building). The carpeting and furnishings of the interior are in earth tones. We got a brief look at the auditorium (which most tour groups are not allowed to do because of rehearsals and concerts). It is a very warm and inviting place with  hardwood paneling on the walls and  stage. For acoustical purposes the outside of the auditorium is surrounded by concrete. The center is touted as the most acoustically sophisticated concert hall in the world. Pictured below is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion where the Los Angeles Philharmonic had its last concert before moving into the Disney Center in 2003. Lillian Disney died before seeing the completion of the center.

Outside of the third floor of the center is a beautiful garden area complete with a rose shaped fountain which Ghery and the Disney family built in memory of Lillian.

Also in this garden area is an amphitheatre for children's concerts. The Disney center is the primary venue for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, but the symphony also performs a Neighhborhood Concert series for no admission charge at different communities located through-out Los Angeles. We were fortunate to attend such a concert Wednesday evening at the Wilshire United Methodist Church. However, after touring the Disney Center, our goal is to someday come back to the hall and  attend a concert given by the LA Philharmonic. We are leaving in a few days for Santa Barbara so that will not not possible until we return to LA. We ended our wet day in downtown Los Angeles with a delicious dinner at Sam Woo's restaurant in Chinatown.

Naples Canal Walk

I may have mentioned this area back in December. Tuesday we had a sunny day to traverse the canal walk in Naples, which was our goal to do before we leave this area. Naples is a neighborhood of Long Beach so we did not have very far to drive to get there. I found an on-line description of this community which describes it very well: "canals, gondolas, Italian named streets, waterways and expensive real estate"( like an average of one million dollars, but we were told we could  get one for less than that as a fixer-upper). Another description I found of this area said that it is a beautiful neighborhood but not useful to tourists. We did enjoy our walk. Almost every home has its own unique features as well as beautiful landscaping. Many of the houses have statues and fountains, one even has a small putting green.

And if I keep any memory of Southern California it will be that of the many different plants growing here and always something is blooming. The canal area of Naples is replete with shrubs,flowers and trees.

Pictured below is a flowering tree ( I am not sure what kind it is) and if I had not been looking at it I would have missed another tree. That is a Weeping Juniper which is flush against the house and looks like some kind of spooky apparition.  Quite an interesting tree, as it is cold tolerant and drought resistant. Seems like we should see more of them in this area as those traits are perfect for this climate.

Leonis Ranch

I just could not leave the ranch on this blog until I posted some pictures of the livestock which we saw there. In the corrals and barns were the cutest baby goats and lambs.The ranch has Merino sheep, Nubian and Angora goats.  This goat I found starring innocently at me in the barn.

The ranch also has Texas Longhorn cattle. This big bull does not seem to mind sharing his food!

 

And then there was this ram really getting into his food. I am not too sure how he got into the trough,probably by jumping. There is another ram feeding next to him but his feet is on the ground.

And while I am on the subject of animals, KC our cat is still doing well. We are dissolving his medicine in a syringe and shooting it into his mouth once a day. Amazingly enough, he is not fighting us when we do it either. I rather think that he enjoys the cuddling and attention we give him while we do it. Someone suggested pill pockets but he is so picky about what he eats I am sure that idea would not fly at all.

Calabasas California

It was quite by accident that we came upon this historic area. We had known of it and it was in our plans to see it someday. Our only plans Sunday afternoon was to drive up the coastal highway and see the Malibu beach area. We had gotten that far and then decided that for our route back we would drive through the Santa Monica mountains. It was a good decision because we soon found ourselves driving on narrow roads which wound upwards through some very beautiful canyons.

It was on Old Topanga Canyon road where we came into the historic district of Calabasas.  Driving through the town was difficult because many cars and people clogged the streets. We decided that it was just better to find a parking place and walk. A lot of people seemed to be in this area because of a large Mexican cantina and restaurant which is located next to the Leonis Adobe Museum. Calabasas was the site of one of the two hundred or more Native American Rancherias that once dotted the San Fernando Valley. The Leonis Adobe museum is a Monterey-Style adobe home and working ranch, originally owned by the legendary Miguel Leonis who was know as the King of Calabasas. We toured the home, as well as the ranch yard and corral with livestock.

Next to the adobe home is located the Plummer House, which  is known as the "oldest house in Hollywood". It was moved from West Hollywood in 1983.It was built in 1826. Moving it to this location seemed to be the best place for it because the Plummers and the Leonis's were acquainted, as were most of the landholding families of those days.

Just before completing our tour of the ranch a huge tree with a sign on it caught my eye. The sign indicated it was a Quercus Lobata, "last of the old west". I have since done some research on that tree. It is also known as a Valley Oak which only grows here in California. It is the largest of North American Oaks. I only know that this particular tree is quite old and not the last of its species, there are groves of  the Valley Oak in a couple other areas of California. It certainly has a commanding presence here at the Leonis Ranch!

Mission San Gabriel

This mission was founded in 1771, it was fourth in the chain of twenty-one missions started by Father Serra at the direction of King Charles III of Spain.  This mission has some beautiful gardens where the museum has kept some of its old ruins. It still has the foundation, floor and vats of the winery it once owned. It also has the four brick furnaces used to make soap for all the missions. An inventory taken in 1834 showed that the mission had four vineyards, nine orchards, 12,303 head of cattle, one ship, four cannons, and 1,323 souls. That was only the major items on the list, they also had herds of sheep, and other animals.  Work was done by the native Indians. The mission was desecularized in 1834 and turned over to civil administration. The Mexican government thought that the mission should be more about the business of saving souls. Below is a picture of the baptistry with its original doomed ceiling,floor and walls. That is the original hand hammered baptismal font brought from Spain  in 1771.

On the side of the mission is the bell tower. This is the only one of the missions with six bells.

The whole area surrounding the mission is considered the historic area of the town of San Gabriel. While we were there two different wedding parties were taking photos and a movie company was shooting a scene( that was quite interesting to watch, they were filming a young  lad running alongside the church with some bread in his hands). Next to the mission is a historic playhouse which I have pictured here. This whole area does makes for some very photogenic settings.