castle in the air

Who was I to miss seeing Hearst Castle, the iconic west coast castle that sits high on a mountain top above the Pacific Ocean outside of San Simeon?

We braved the packed tour bus as it traveled up the long winding road, where I began to take in the details of how this landmark came into being, and most notably, how long it took to build.

 Reality is, the castle never was completed.
William Randolph Hearst, and his architect,
Julia Morgan worked on the entire estate for over 28 years.

What I enjoyed most about the two tours we took were the manicured grounds and the three houses that were built surrounding the castle.  Especially the second one he and his family lived in while the castle was being built, Casa del Mar.

 At double the size of the first house that was built (Casa del Monte), Casa del Mar was the second family residence. They moved in to Casa del Mar (House of the Sea) in 1924. It overlooked ocean views to the south that stretch one hundred miles on clear days. The most formal and most elaborately decorated of the cottages, Casa del Mar featured a different gold-leafed plaster ceiling in every room. Mr. Hearst moved to the the castle in 1928, but Casa del Mar still remained dear to him. At age eighty-two in the late 1940s, he returned there to live for his last two years on the hilltop--

before retiring to Beverly Hills, where he died in 1951.

 After taking in all of this beauty, we meandered back down the hill, leaving the "castle in the air" to return to Pismo Beach.  

That night we were invited back to Diana's for a 

potluck dinner!  My dh and I love potlucks!!

  How could she have planned a better send off than this?

We ate taco soup, homemade cornbread, scrumptious salads and sipped a little

fine wine.

Later we girls huddled in Diana's studio, which is beautiful by the way!
Susan, Stephani, =) and Diana

Thanks so much Diana for the treasure chest of goodies you sent home with me.
Sure do miss those girls!