Hearst Castle at San Simeon

Greg didn’t mention that when we went camping last weekend I took a little side trip while he and Andi hung out Sunday morning. I snuck out of the tent before 8 a.m. and headed up the coast to Hearst Castle. Greg was there with his family in third grade, but I had never heard of the place and wasn’t sure what to expect.
A little background…

William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951), newspaper magnate, son of self made millionaire mining tycoon, and larger than life figure of the early 20th Century, inherited a 250,000 acre ranch when his mother passed away in 1919. As a child he had camped in “tents” on the ranch and fallen in love with one of the mountains there. He decided to build a home for himself on that spot and put San Francisco architect and civil engineer Julia Morgan to work. Under his direction and seemingly infinite bank account, the project eventually turned into four “castles” with his own home, “Casa Grande”, growing to 60,645 square feet before he finally stopped building in 1947(not because it was too big, but because he became too ill to live there).

It is truly a sight to behold with authentic Roman ruins surrounding the pool, 15th century wood seating from Italian cathedrals, beautiful mosaics, and innumerable works of art from around the world.

George Bernard Shaw once said, "San Simeon was the place God would have built--if he had the money."

In order to see this colossal monument to human wealth however you have to go through a touristy gift area and board a bus up the mountain. The tour itself was a little hokey but there is not disputing the place is absolutely unique.

Click here for the PHOTOS.

I took these while on one of their five tour options (each costing $20 and a brilliant marketing scheme).

If you're interested, here is a great PBS web page on the "Citizen Kane" scandal. Orson Welles loosely based the movie on Hearst (Xandadu=San Simeon), who threw a massive fit and pretty much succesfully kept the movie out of theaters for 25 years. It's an amazing story.