San Simeon State Park

6 families from our Chinese school camped in San Simeon SP for 2 nights. We visited nearby Hearst Castle and beaches and drove back home through senic HWY 1.

I headed south from Salinas. My destination was the Julia-Pfeiffer Burns State Park. The Julia-Pfeiffer Burns State Park is on Highway 1, right along the coast. The best known attraction is an 80-foot waterfall that shoots out from a cliff and comes ...

... Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to stop anywhere else, but if you stay overnight in the Big Sur area Pfeiffer Burns State Park looks very promising.  It has plenty of hiking trails, waterfalls AND beach access.  Here's a great site for ...

... castle and monitor the oceanographic, biological and geographic features of the adjoining National Marine Sanctuary and manage the adjacent state park. Entrance to the estate is through a splendid Visitors Center where you’re prepped with a short ...

... the world doesn't ensure that things will work out. That, maybe, just "winging it" is the best plan? I made it to the San Simeon State Park for the first 2 nights of camping, roughing it in a tent with no services. Weather was decent. Walked to the ...

... make really rude noises though! Hahahahahahahahahaa!! We then passed by a row of motels and inns before arriving at the Hearst San Simeon State Park. Yeeeaaayyy!! They had loads of availability, but it costs $35 per night! I thought it was rather steep, ...

... , WInston Churchill, Greta Garbo, Howard Hughes and Charlie Chaplin to name but a few. While the house and grounds is run as a State Park these days, all the land around is still owned by the Hearst Corporation and run as a ranch. Just up the road in the ...

... . The icing on the cake for the day was once we reached Carmel and finding McWay Falls a part of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park which was a hidden waterfall running directly on to a secluded beach. Somebody had managed to make their way down to the ...

... in the Big Sur. The weather also improved greatly and it made for a really enjoyable drive.  Once we hit Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park we managed to find the lookout we had planned to stop at with views over McWay Falls.  Definitely one of the ...

... headed to San Simeon to see the Hearst Castle. The drive there was beautiful. We followed the coast of California to the Hearst State Park Welcome center. We arrived just in time to catch our bus to the actual castle. We often talk about how blessed we ...

Got to the state park at San Simeon just in time to see sunset on the ...

... Dodge Charger - it's a complete 'muscle' car in silver and is enormous! So J loves it of course......! A stop at Pffeifer State Park for a wander through the redwood forest up to Valley View and then onto the Pffeifer falls - which really weren't up to ...

... on a little breaker wall and guess what was there?  A whole bunch of seals.  Guess I still didn't learn my lesson (remember the same happened in San Simeon).  Lifelesson 1:  If you see one, then there's a whole bunch somwhere close ...

... jordegern, så tit sidst havde jeg fået nok af at fotografere dem. Men...søde er de. Et kort stykke fra stranden lå vores motel San Simeon Lodge. Værelset var rent og pænt, og der var en lill pool, som vi fik os en hurtig dukkert i. Solen skinnede ...

... Europe that he had collected over the years in his castle. But before it was donated to the state of California as a historical park, William Hearst loved to enertain all the rich and famous here such as Charlie Chaplan, the Marx Brothers, ...

... the views from the top of the hill were incredible.  Well worth the trip! Following the tour, we drove to the beach at San Simeon State Park to see if any sea lions were about.  We spotted a couple sunning themselves on the beach and a few in ...

... and dived. For the next day or two we continued to see them occasionally as we walked south.   Just north of San Simeon we saw hundreds of Elephant Seals sunning themselves on certain protected beaches. Lots of people drove up from the cities to ...

... often hundreds if not thousands of feet below (it seems).  The Atlantic is rarely presented with similar drama.  I rode through San Simeon and took a break at the pier - an idyllic spot with a sandy, inviting beach and picnic area on one ...

... along the main street - Todd's old college stomping grounds (Cal Poly) - we really loved the town. Camped together at San Simeon State Park - supper, walk on the beach, sunset over the Pacific. Cold night, sunny morning. Today, further on up to ...

... What a great day to do absolutely nothing. I headed southward into the Big Sur area and made myself some lunch at Pfieffer Big Sur State park. I then took a short hike (it was supposed to take 2 hours, I did it in 45 minutes) to the top of Buzzard's ...