Carmel to Malibu

Trip Start Apr 04, 2008
1
8
15
Trip End Apr 20, 2008


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of United States  , California,
Thursday, April 10, 2008

Thursday - a 300 mile journey south from Carmel to Malibu. The first 100 miles we drove back down Big Sur again to San Simeon, where Hearst built his 'castle' (he called it a ranch) on a hilltop overlooking a magnificent coastline. The guided tour took nearly two hours, but didn't seem that long - it was much more interesting than I expected. He seems to have wandered around Europe, ripping bits of heritage from churches, castles and other buildings for his own residence. There were choir stalls everywhere, used as wood-panelling for the walls. Very odd!!

Just before Sam Simeon were a couple of beaches where hundreds of elephant seals were basking with their pups (?), which had been born a couple of months ago, and were still learning to swim and survive in the water.

After that, we drove a little further down the coast to Solvang, a danish town with faux-Danish plasterboard buildings everywhere, but fun in a *really* kitschy way! We had some pastries (of course) and Andy managed to find a die-cast Jaguar he didn't have.

The rest of the journey was interstate away from the coast, so nothing to report about that, but we did manage to reach the Malibu hotel just before sunset.

The room/suite is lovely - a real Malibu beach-house - as you can see from the pictures.We are ten feet away from the water and we slept with the window slightly open (there are screens as well), lulled (!!) to slumber by the crashing waves.
Slideshow Print this entry