As the alarm went off at 6:00am on August 1, 2018, my photographer and his wife were eager to hit the road. Oh, it wasn’t just any road, mind you; it was the Pacific Coast Highway and that Wednesday’s drive would be what their California dreams had been made of. That famous route was somewhat lackluster from San Francisco to Monterey, which was due to the fact that the road didn’t hug the ocean as we had expected. But Tom and Vicki knew the scenery was about to change as the PCH from Carmel-By-The-Sea to Morro Bay hugged the ocean closer than ugly on Eleanor Roosevelt. But before we could hit the PCH, however, Tom wanted to pay a visit to Caramel-By-The-Sea’s City Hall. That building was where Mayor Clint Eastwood had hung his political hat for two years after he became mayor on April 8, 1986.
It was about a seven-block drive from the Carmel Bay View Inn to City Hall where Vicki parked the Mustang along the street. With me in his camera case, Tom walked around the exterior of the building and snapped a handful of images. That’s when I heard my photographer say to his wife: “I have to try to get inside and see where Clint conducted city council meetings as mayor.” Luck was on our side as City Hall was open for business; plus, the woman inside was extremely friendly and gave us a quick tour. She said the layout was still the same as it was when Clint Eastwood was mayor, but she also mentioned that the famous actor didn’t spend a lot of time in that room. During our short stay, we saw a U-shaped table that featured eight chairs; the one in the center was reserved for the mayor and was flanked by the United States flag to the left and the California state flag and the Carmel-By-The-Sea city flag to the right. Although the name plates in front of each elected official’s seat were gone, it was as though I could see the name ‘Mayor Eastwood’ on the plate-holder in front of the center seat.
When we were finished at City Hall, Vicki drove the three of us back to Carmel Beach where we had an early morning glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. Fog loomed offshore, which made the ocean view less than spectacular, but Tom did get a cool photograph of a cypress tree near the beach. For years, my photographer’s wife had dreamed about driving along the scenic Pacific Coast Highway in a convertible with the top down. Her dream was about to come true.
At 9:00am, we began our journey south along the PCH – and this time, the view did not disappoint – except the damned fog still followed us from San Francisco. The two-lane California Highway 1, also known as Cabrillo Highway, featured numerous pull-outs at scenic vistas along the way. As the fog obstructed some of our ocean view in the early part of the trip, we arrived at the Rocky Creek Bridge about 14 miles into the trip. The scenic bridge, which was built in 1932, was roughly 500 feet long and was officially called an open-spandrel deck arch bridge. The three of us got out of the Mustang and walked along the north side of the bridge where we had a good view of the span.
While the Rocky Creek Bridge looked cool, it paled in comparison to the next bridge that was less than a mile further down the road. The Bixby Creek Bridge, which was also known as the Bixby Canyon Bridge, is one of the most photographed bridges in California – mostly due to its “graceful architecture and magnificent setting”. The Bixby Bridge was longer than the one at Rocky Creek, stretching a total length of over 700 feet. The roadway that went over the bridge was 280 feet above the water and was the highest single span arch bridge in the world when it was built in 1932. In 1966, First Lady Lady Bird Johnson led the official Scenic Road Designation Ceremony at the Bixby Creek Bridge. We walked around the area as we admired the scenery around the famous bridge; but once again fog had hampered the beauty. On the south side of Bixby Creek, Tom met a guy from Indiana and the pair of Midwesterners climbed up a hillside trail where they discovered an overhead foggy view of the bridge and ocean. When he returned to the car, I heard my photographer tell his wife that he became extremely nervous when he reached the top of the hill because of the wind and the height. He did his best to keep his fear hidden from his newfound Hoosier friend.
The drive along the ocean for the next 13 miles was breathtaking, especially since the fog finally began to dissipate. We stopped at a handful of viewing areas where we saw the rocky shoreline of the Pacific Coast as the ocean’s waves crashed ashore. A few minutes past 11:00am, we arrived at the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park where we were able to walk around and see some of its tall coastal redwoods; including the Colonial Tree. At 31-feet in diameter, the Colonial Tree was the largest tree in the park; although lightning strikes over the years have severed the top branches. In another section that was located near the Big Sur River, we walked along the Redwood Deck and saw a grove of the ancient trees that were 800 to 900 years old.
Once we had finished our visit with some of the ancient tall trees, we got back into the Mustang and continued our ride south down the Pacific Coast Highway. As the sun did its best to melt away the morning fog, the view of the ocean cliffs, beaches, and rock formations along the coast became clearer. Although it was only an 11-mile drive from the Redwood Deck to McWay Falls, we stopped numerous times along the way to admire the scenery. At one point, as my photographer was shooting images of the ocean just north of the falls, a large bird came out of nowhere and flew towards the three of us. I heard Tom as he yelled out to his wife: “Look at that huge bird headed this way – I think it might be a condor. It looks ugly enough to be a condor, but I don’t think it’s big enough.” As it turned out, the bird was a common turkey vulture rather than a rare and endangered California condor. While a vulture’s wingspan can get up to six feet, the condor is the largest flying bird in North America and has an average wingspan of nearly ten feet. After the close fly-by of the large buzzard, we arrived at McWay Falls just before 1:00pm and we quickly discovered the parking lot was full. Forced to park the Mustang along the PCH where dozens of other vehicles were illegally parked, we made the short hike along the roadway to a spot where we could see the falls. And the view did not disappoint. McWay Falls is an 80-foot tall waterfall that flows year-round from McWay Creek. Although the waterfall dumped onto the beach below, during high tide it’s called a tidefall as the water empties directly into the ocean. And the best part of all – the falls, beach area, and cove were only accessible by boat; which meant that there were no tourists to hinder the scenic view.
For 26 miles after we left McWay Falls, the scenery changed with every twist and turn that the PCH offered. The different shades of blue in the ocean, along with the mountainous terrain alongside the coast, made the drive more spectacular than words and photos could describe. We did encounter a stroke of luck – two weeks prior to our coastal ride, a section of the PCH opened after being shut down for 14 months due to a landslide at the Mud Creek area of the Big Sur in May 2017. Although that section of highway was a single lane as we drove past the renovated landslide area, it was better than the alternative: We would be forced to take a detour 40 miles out of the way and miss some of the PCH.
After 20 miles of driving on the winding and turning PCH from Mud Creek, we arrived at a place that my photographer and his wife had been talking about since the inception of the trip’s itinerary. At 3:00pm, we arrived at the Elephant Seal Vista Point that was just south of the Piedras Blancas Light Station near San Simeon. Since 1990, Northern elephant seals have made this area their home while on land; and during their prime mating season, roughly 20,000 seals lay on the beach at any given time. Unfortunately, our visit was not in prime time, which meant that there were only about 200 elephant seals on the beach. The three of us walked along a well-made boardwalk that led us to an area that offered a prime view of the huge, but homely, mammals. Some of the elephant seals were molting as their dark gray skin revealed a reddish underlayer. As we stood there watching in awe of the giant seals, we saw some of them using their front flipper to scoop sand up onto their bodies; which helped keep them cool. At one point, a young male sparred with another male as they jousted with their blubbery snouts. It seemed unbelievable how close we got to the elephant seals and watched them in their natural habitat.
When our elephant seal encounter was finished, we had to hurry to make the short trip to the Hearst Castle visitor center for the 4:00pm tour. Luckily for my photographer and his wife, tickets for the Grand Rooms Tour were still available and before I knew it, we were on the shuttle headed up the mountainside. It took about ten minutes to make the five-mile trip up the winding road to the top of Enchanted Hill; but when we got there, the unbelievable luxurious architecture of William Randolph Hearst’s home was unveiled before us. As we waited to enter the main house, known as Casa Grande, I posed for a handful of photos in front of the structure; mainly because President Calvin Coolidge was a guest of Hearst in February of 1930. The newspaper magnate also met with Franklin D. Roosevelt, a political ally-turned-foe, at Hearst Castle in the early ‘30s. When I stood in front of the main entryway to the house, I saw the exact place where Lady Gaga recorded footage for her 2015 music video called ‘G.U.Y.’. Hearst Castle boasted 42 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, 19 sitting rooms, 127 acres of gardens, indoor and outdoor pools, tennis courts, a movie theater, an airfield, and during Hearst’s lifetime – the world’s largest private zoo. When we gazed at the exterior, the building was beautiful and looked like a true American castle.
Before we entered the castle, our group was led to an outdoor swimming pool called the Neptune Pool, which unfortunately was not filled with water due to ongoing renovations. While numerous sculptures, statues, and fountains had adorned the landscape, an ancient temple façade overlooked the pool – which made the setting look fit for Greek gods and goddesses – and even Gaga’s. Not only was the Neptune Pool the most elaborate swimming pool that the three of us had ever seen, but the mountain view in the distance also put it over the top. During the final few minutes of our poolside visit, we were told that the pool was a favorite hang-out for Hearst’s granddaughter, Patty Hearst, who spent a lot of her childhood at Hearst Castle. From the Neptune Pool, our group walked through a back entrance and into Hearst Castle.
Once we were inside the magnificent building, which was the poster child for the ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’, we immediately found ourselves in the Assembly Room. Some of William Randolph Hearst’s vast collections could be seen in that huge room, as well as the unique architecture style of Julia Morgan. Everything in the house seemed to be big, gaudy, tacky, and uniquely interesting at the same time. There were statues, paintings, tapestries on the walls; intricate woodwork, and next to the main fireplace was a hidden door that Hearst used to enter the room as he unexpectedly surprised his guests. While I posed for a photo in the Assembly Room, I had wondered what Coolidge thought when he was in that room. He likely didn’t say much, as “Silent Cal” was a man of few words.
The Refectory was the next room we visited, which was the only dining room in the house. An unbelievably large dining room table, one that seated 22 guests, took up most of the room. While fine China graced the table, ordinary ketchup and mustard condiments were also present, which was something that Hearst insisted on. When his wife Millicent was not in the house, Hearst also insisted on using paper napkins rather than linen ones. When we heard that fact, I had wondered why he also didn’t insist on the use paper plates instead of China. Near the 27-foot-high carved wooden ceiling hung numerous silken Italian flags – some of which were over 400 years old.
The next room on our tour also featured a pool, but in that room, there was a different type of pool. Two pool tables, one for billiards and the other for standard pool, sat side-by-side in the Billiard Room; a room that was designed like the rest of the house – over the top. As I stood alongside one of the pool tables, I envisioned Charles Lindbergh, or Charlie Chaplin; or even Greta Garbo as they banked the 8-ball into the corner pocket.
As we walked into the Hearst Castle theater, the first thing I noticed was a very cool sculpture on the wall – one that looked to me like a goddess holding the room’s lights. At the end of the room was the movie screen where William Randolph Hearst and film star Marion Davies (Hearst’s mistress) joined guests every night to watch a full-length movie and newsreel. During our visit, we didn’t get to watch a feature film. Instead, we saw archived film footage of Mr. Hearst as he entertained his famous guests from days gone by. Some of those guests were on the A-List of Hollywood in the ’30s – stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, the Marx Brothers, Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Buster Keaton, Mary Pickford, and Jean Harlow. Even aviator Charles Lindbergh flew in to visit Hearst at his luxurious mountain-top castle.
The final room of the tour had a design that was simply amazing. The Roman Pool was an indoor pool that featured eight statues of Roman gods, goddesses, and heroes. One-inch square mosaic tiles filled the room from floor to ceiling; the blue and gold tiles gave the Roman Pool room a breathtaking effect alongside the mirror-like pool water. A lot of Lady Gaga’s music video was shot in the Roman Pool area.
Hearst Castle was a great place to visit, and it provided an insight of William Randolph Hearst, as well as his architect Julia Morgan. The sheer beauty of both the inside and outside of Casa Grande was stunning; and yet at the same time it was gaudy, tacky, and an eccentric hodgepodge of excessiveness. As we rode in the shuttle down the hill to the visitor’s center, we caught a glimpse of some of the 119 zebras that roamed freely on the property. Those zebras were descendants of the original herd that William Randolph Hearst had brought to his property in the 1920s.
It was after 6:30pm when we left the Hearst Castle visitors center and it was time to find a place to spend the night. After a four-mile drive south along the Pacific Coast Highway, we found a motel called ‘Sands by the Sea’ that was within our budget. After my photographer and his wife had a late dinner at the Big Sur Restaurant that was located on the east side of Highway 1, our scenic and action-packed day was finished. After I was placed alongside the TV for the night, I couldn’t get the images of Hearst Castle out of my mind. But after an hour or so, my focus shifted to “The Gipper”. After all, we were about three-hours north of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley and that’s where my photographer was taking me the next day. Even though Tom wasn’t a huge Reagan fan, I kind of fancied the man – especially after he talked about Thomas Jefferson at a news conference during his Presidency. Reagan was quoting as saying; “Thomas Jefferson once said, ‘We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.’ And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.” Look out Ronald Reagan – Jefferson is on his way!
