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.

This Bud's for Andi

Nathan is currently on a tidying-up warpath. He is incredible. Arm that man with a shredder, Avery filing system, and black permanent marker and he's ready to conquer clutter. So while he goes nuts cleaning the apartment tonight, I'm sorting through our virtual clutter - the external hard drive. If you have one, you know it's the two-point-oh version of an attic.

You just throw everything in and boom - you've got space where you need it!

On my search I found some cute photos of Andi and her friends back East. If you're weirded out by photos of our dog - multiple cute, furry, huggable photos - then read one of the other umpteen posts.

You've been a good dog...lately...Andi. So this post's for you.

Trudie and Andi in D.C.

Lilly and Andi in Grand Rapids

What she likes to do most

New Photos and Time Change

It's been a few days since our last post, and we sincerely apologize to our very dedicated readers about the gap.

Who am I kidding, I'm tracking this pitiful little blog with Google Analytics and on the traffic map there's a huge bulls eye right on San Francisco and Grand Rapids. So, thanks mom and dad, you make up half the readership!

Anyhow, make me feel a little less deflated by checking out the photos from our first camping adventure to San Simeon State Park. We got sun, hiked some and Andi got bit by a tick...right where no decent lady dog wants a tick bite. Yeah...

PHOTOS: CLICK HERE

As for staying in touch with everyone back East, we owe another sincere apology - this time we mean it - for calling anyone during prime sleep hours. We're still getting used to the three-hour time difference.

Andi's Visit to Crissy Field

We took Andi to the beach (Crissy Field) for the first time last weekend, but we forgot to take the camera. Probably one of the most beatiful views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the happiest our dog has ever been, and we forget the camera. Oops. We found out that Andi loves to swim, and cleaning sand from between a dog's paws isn't the most fun thing in the world. After I washed her off, Andi curled up and slept for 12 hours though. She was a happy dog.

Crissy Field was originally an airfield on the Presidio Army Base. In the 1990s the Presidio ceased all military operations and the base became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Before it was an airfield, the area was a rich salt marsh (now there is a beatiful protected pond) and a gathering ground for Native Americans. It later served as the landing site of Spanish explorers and Russian, English and Boston traders. Today its a beautiful park, dog beach, and grassy area.

Muir Woods, IKEA!

We took our first Bay Area excursion Saturday with my dad and stepmom.

Muir Woods is home to hundreds-year-old Redwood trees - absolute behemoths with remarkable lifespans. Everything we saw that day, not only in Muir Woods, but driving across the Golden Gate Bridge, through Marin County, was beautiful.

We wrapped up the weekend getting a few last-minute furniture pieces at the Scandinavian wonderland better known as IKEA. Not like this is news to anyone with a "cheap, but nice" furniture itch, but if you don't go in that place on a mission, you end up in the poor house.

Settling In

The movers came today, unloaded all our stuff, so now there's...well...stuff in our apartment.

It's nice having couches, utensils, napkins and other household items that make you feel civilized. Don't get me wrong, eating on the foot of our bed for 10 days was great...

We were eating cereal for most meals of the day out of our Dora the Explorer paper bowls. We re-rinsed plastic cutlery and shared drinks out of a SF Giants collector's cup. Yeah, that sad mental picture you have is pretty darn accurate.

But now, all is better. Life is renewed. And yes, I like having the things in life that make living convenient and sometimes - gasp! - easy.

"The coldest winter I ever spent..."

Mark Twain once said, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

Great quote, right? I thought so. It sounds like a Twain quote, its funny like a Twain quote, and incredibly smart like a Twain quote. Unfortunately, Twain didn't actually say it, but I'm going to keep telling people about it. Mostly because the weather here is INSANE!

It's sunny/warm/cold/foggy/freezing/hot or some combination of two or three of those things within a couple of hours. Not that I'm blaming San Francisco for making me sick, but there should be some sort of warning when you enter the city.

"Warm coats and hats required at all times. Sudden drops in temperature can be dangerous!"

I'll let you know what progress I'm making in lobbying for this sign. In the mean time, if you want to read more about the Mark Twain dispute, here is an interesting link that explains why this quote, and many other quotes, are misattributed to him.