As I mentioned, we stopped at Hearst Castle on the way up Highway 1, which doesn't look very impressive from the Visitor's Center, until you realize that it's five miles up the mountain.



The property actually includes everything visible from the castle, even some inland mountains that are forty miles away. The grounds used to hold the largest private zoo in the world, and still have a number of wild animals that roam freely, including zebra and bighorn sheep. There's also a ranch that not only fed the family, but also provide all the meat for the incredibly busy cafeteria in the visitor's center.



The front entrance was grand indeed.



As was the first pool.







Our guide told us that this castle housed only 10% of WR Hearst's art collection. If anything looks like gold, then it is. And it's also all really old.











This is not a castle right on the ocean. That water is over five miles away.



The main receiving room had 400 year old original tapestries hanging on the walls. The replicas hang in the Louvre.



If this dining hall looks a little familiar, that's because the Harry Potter people studied it as a model for the movie.



The inside pool was Hearst's biggest disappointment in the house, since none of his guests liked to swim in it. He never designed a shallow end for it, so it was 10 feet deep everywhere. His guests called it the most beautiful place to drown.



WR Hearst was an interesting guy. He was born into a multimillionaire family, and never had to work a day in his life, but he still created the biggest newspaper empire from scratch and ran for president. He had each of his newspapers flown in every morning, along with enchiladas from L.A. and seafood from all over the world. Hollywood stars and politicians were always out and about, but everyday people were welcome too, as long as you were interesting to him and knew some good jokes.