Spring Break, part 1: Central Coast

Spring Break is here, and it's time to get away & head south.  Since we flew last year, we had a full 24 months to forget the length of the drive and the terrible-ness of the traffic on every! single! highway! around LA.  So we packed up the Subaru, and did our usual routine of somehow turning "let's try to get on the road just after rush hour" into "guess we better stop for lunch" before we even manage to get south of San Jose.  Which definitely cut into "maybe we'll have time to try a winery or two" on our way to Cambria.

Although as it turns out, it was entirely possible to fit our greater-Cambria area activities into one day. We rose bright & early on Saturday to make it to our first stop - the Hearst Castle.

When I first drove down the California Coast about 20 years ago, I'd wanted to see it but it just didn't fit into the itinerary - which continued to be the case with a lot of subsequent trips, to the point that the continued denial had clearly built the idea of visiting to mythical proportions in my head.  That, and viewing Citizen Cane as an impressionable freshman in my "Literature in Film" class.  (On the up side, I also saw It Happened One Night, the Godfather, and the Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, which I certainly would never have chosen to watch at 18; and to this day I enjoy watching film versions of books I've liked reading and vice versa.  But I digress.)

We made it to San Simeon in plenty of time for our 9 am tour.  The kids were excited for the bus ride, and the herd of Barbary Sheep on the hillside, and charging up the steps in a cloud of orange blossoms to take in the amazing view.

But once it became clear we were there to look around a big, old house - not as much.  One of the guides did her best, trying to tie in Percy Jackson movies when talking about the Greek statues.  Our other guide simmered with a barely contained loathing for us, the jerks who were walking and breathing and sullying Randolph Hearst's vision with our lumpen presence.  Her sole comfort seemed to be scolding tourists for transgressing the rules - she berated the leader of a Chinese tour group to rein in two septuagenarians who repeatedly LEFT THE CARPETED PATH.  So you can imagine how well she handled this:

In my defense, I asked Daddy to pretend to toss a discus, rather than hug the statue.

Lucie & Brennan may have been a little young for it - and going forward, may refuse to visit "castles" on the grounds that it's a trick and there's no princesses, knights, etc.  But it was fun to imagine what it would be like to have your own indoor swimming pool:

This crowd wasn't much for lingering, so back in the bus and back down the hill we went.

There was plenty of time for an early lunch at the visitor center, and then head inland to the wineries.

We had a proper grown up wine tasting, complete with our name on a little "reserved" sign at Linne Calodo, while Brennan & Lucie threw sticks in the yard for the vineyard dog.  But they enjoyed Oso Libre a lot more - not only do they have a vineyard dog, but also - vineyard LLAMAS.

But wait, there's a few more hours of daylight left!  And the El Colibri Hotel was just a short trip along the boardwalk to Moonstone Beach.  Although Daddy stayed behind, since he mostly hates the beach, unless it's in Mexico.  While I sifted through the sand for pretty little rocks that may or may not be the eponymous moonstones (not the actual gemstone but some sort beach agate), the kids happily built a driftwood "structure" and then found a great place for jumping.

But eventually, we had to go to bed.  Because if you want the Easter Bunny to visit, you have to go to sleep.  And no one wanted to miss the First Annual Hotel Room Easter Egg Hunt.

Once all the eggs were accounted for, we stuffed everything back in the car and continued on to our real destination - Palm Springs.  Pool time, desert exploration, and finally being allowed to assemble our Easter LEGO kits from Gangi await!