Conspicuous consumption

Trip Start Oct 11, 2008
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Trip End Nov 23, 2008


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Flag of United States  , California,
Wednesday, October 29, 2008

I had to do it. Less than 5 miles up the road is Hearst Castle. So I rode up this morning and knew I was close to the entrance by the small herd of zebras. Parked the bike, stripped down to essentials and found a locker to put all my bike gear in and bought my ticket.
My seat partner turned out to be a fellow biker, transplanted from CA but returning often to visit his parents nearby. Randy filled me in on some tour info about both the Castle and touring the area.
The Castle was amazing and I took lots of photos. The views are magnificent, well, really everything was. You just have to see it to believe it. The National Geographic movie on the building of the Castle is worth seeing and maybe even buying to show the folks back home.
After the tour, I took a ride north and stopped at an elephant seal viewing area. The fog was rolling in and out, the seals were laid out on the beach doing what any well fed seal would do, occasionally barking out or flapping sand on themselves. All the humans were snapping away. Some Asian dudes asked where I was from and wanted to have their pictures taken with my bike and me. Met some other people again from the Hearst tour. This happened to me a lot last year in Arizona where I spent half of my 10 days meeting this cute older couple with their dog and RV at favorite sites.
Sadly I'm in wine country, love wine, but can't do the wine tours. Have to settle for a glass with dinner at the restaurant I can walk to.
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