Summer DRIVES
Hearst Castle
Summer road trips create a memorable classroom for all things California. BY JEANNE COOPER AND SPUD HILTON Sure, every California fourth grader gets a hefty dose of mission-era history (not to mention model-building) in school, but there’s nothing like a family road trip to convey the vast and varied wonders of the Golden State. Here are four teachable-moment destinations, each reachable in a day or less, with notable attractions nearby or en route.
DESTINATION Hearst Castle, San Simeon
This year marks the 65th since William Randolph Hearst’s fanciful aerie became a state park and a full century since he inherited thousands of acres around San Simeon from his mother, the feminist and philanthropist Phoebe Apperson Hearst. Another woman with vision, architect Julia Morgan, collaborated with the publishing tycoon on what became 165 rooms encompassing Spanish colonial revival and European Gothic and neoclassical styles, plus 123 acres of landscaped gardens, terraces and pools. Today, a bus from a visitors’ center with a restaurant and massive gift shop leads uphill to the castle, past fields where zebras and other animals descended from Hearst’s former menagerie still roam. After most of the thoughtful guided tours of Casa Grande, as Hearst called it while entertaining guests during Hollywood’s Golden Age, visitors can also roam freely. Park yourself by the recently restored Neptune Pool to bask in its Greco-Roman opulence. 750 Hearst Castle Road, hearstcastle.org
Take a break from driving and stroll through one of Northern California’s most beautiful promontories, Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. Wildflower-lined trails pass coves where you’ll see seals, sea lions and sea otters (plus a scuba diver or two); two tiny museums, one in a former cabin built by Chinese fishermen, document the area’s cultural and whaling history. Off Highway 1, three miles south of Carmel, pointlobos.org Burgers don’t come with more beautiful views than those at Nepenthe in Big Sur, opened 70 years ago by the same family that runs it today. Below it, Cafe Kevah serves brunch, coffee and pastries on an open-air terrace with equally exquisite vistas. 48510 Highway 1, nepenthe.com Four miles north of the turnoff for Hearst Castle from Highway 1, the viewing point for the Piedras Blancas elephant seal rookery provides a free, easily accessed spot for observing the ungainly giants. While their
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