Mark On Call

Road Trip!

It’s fall and that means road trip season to me. In California, we have incredible road trip destinations a few hours drive up the coast and thousands of opportunities to be wowed and mesmerized. It was an absolutely beautiful weekend and my friend Gail was in from Boston so we decided that the central coast and Hearst Castle was the place to go…and what a perfect decision!!

As one of the great estates from the heyday of industrialists in the United States in the past century, the Hearst Castle is one of the Jewels. However, as one article that I’ve read pointed out, William Randolph Hearst had a more pedestrian eye when it came to his art and extensive architectural antiquities collections…let’s say notches below what Getty amassed in his lifetime.

I will say that what Hearst lacked in subdued good taste, he more than made up for in sheer volume, variety and grandiosity. My guess is that he was the Donald Trump of that time.

We spent the day taking a tour of the Guest Houses, Wine Cellar and Kitchen…then the remainder of our time there soaking up the sun beside the Neptune pool and walking the grounds…and of course, like everyone does, making mental notes as to how I would furnish the place if it was mine, which guest house was more “me” and staring at the old soaps, combs and toiletries left strewn about in the bathroom for display; and of course the inevitable next step that everyone does…look around as to where the security cameras were!

I, of course, took a lot of pictures, to find out later that I had hit the video button on my phone so ended up with only half the photos that I wanted…but I still have a few good ones for the blog. The lighting freak in me made me take photos of each and every light fixture. Of course with the plans to duplicate someday…right! Even with the videos that I can’t use, you’ll still see some really great light fixtures in the photos.

   

Would I recommend the trip to Hearst Castle…oh yeah…
Was it a good value for the Tours…absolutely…
Did I get a lot of Ideas for my someday castle…yep…
Would I like to be this guy for a day…in a minute.

Enjoy Fall!!! Road Trip!

-Mark

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