California Trip {Day 3}

Breakfast this morning was at the House of Bagels. It was something we came across as we were driving through town. We had coffee and bagels, imagine that!


We drove about 45 minutes for today's outing to Hearst Castle.
There are several different tour options at Hearst Castle. We chose one that was geared for visitors who had never been there before. It was an hour and 45 minute tour. We saw a movie about William Hearst and the building of the estate before our tour began.

A little tidbit of information - Construction on Hearst Castle began in 1919 and ended in 1947.


Here I am enjoying the view. Wouldn't it be great to wake up to that view every morning?

Here is one of the guest houses.

Here Chris stands in front of the gorgeous Neptune pool.

A different view of the same pool.

Walking through some of the gardens.



The main house, or "Casa Grande".

This is a picture of the Roman pool -for those rainy days when you want to swim.

After our tour, we ate lunch at El Chorlito, a Mexican restaurant near Hearst Castle.


On our way back to Paso Robles, we stopped at one more winery. We drove by lots of wineries on drive back, but the Summer Wood Winery caught our eye.



This winery was a much smaller one compared to the others we had gone to. Their wines are not sold in grocery stores or served in restaurants. We were told they only produce about 2500 bottles a year. There was a tasting fee - we had a choice of $5 per person for 5 wines or $10 to taste all of their wines. We chose to taste all. It was nice to have a choice. And at both wineries where there were tasting fees, we were given the chance to share the tasting between the two of us if we wanted.

A picture of us in front of the Summer Wood vineyard.


Now I must provide you with some back story. The day we left San Francisco on our drive along Highway 1, we passed by hundreds of bicyclists. We assumed it was some organized bike event. Thanks again to modern technology, we (I mean I, because Chris was driving and California has a strict no cell phone use when driving law) looked up the event after seeing a possible event name on some shirts. The event was the AIDS/LifeCyle - Ride to End AIDS. What was impressive, was that this was a 7 day bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. We looked at their schedule, and it turned out that the "pit stop" on day 3 was in Paso Robles. So we made a point to go to their stop destination and check it out.



Here is the camp for the night. Though some cyclists chose to stay in hotels. There were several checked in at our hotel. In fact, for that one night, the Paso Robles Inn had no vacancies. I think if I was participating in an even like this and giving up a whole week of vacation, I would stay in hotels, too! I can't even imagine what it would feel like to ride 80 plus miles in a day and then sleep on the ground in a tent that night!

This was our last night in Paso Robles. We dined at Artisan's, downtown, of course. There were some cyclists sitting at the table next to ours. We have so much respect for them and the cause that they were supporting.

Not only is that the end of day 3, but it is the end of our trip in Paso Robles.