Day 9: PCH thru Big Sur, Hearst Castle, Pismo Beach

After a leisurely morning wake-up, we stop for breakfast at the Lodge in Big Sur State Park.  I know, I know, everything is Big Sur this and Big Sur that.  It is hard to keep them straight.  Then we had about two hours, around 60 miles, of twisty, hilly, cliff-side, white-knuckle driving.  It was great.  It is actually better going south since the car is on the ocean side of the road.  After getting through the most twisty stuff, I actually had to force my fingers to relax from the steering wheel and regain circulation.  It is not Going to the Sun Road or Bear Tooth Highway scary but it is pretty good.

The big event for the day is the Hearst Castle, actually the Hearst State Historical Landmark, near San Simeon.  Amazing that this was built in the 1900s.
 William Randolph Hearst's office.
 The ocean view from the terrace.
We end our day in Pismo Beach, a coast town a little bit toward the Santa Barbara side of San Luis Obispo at a surprisingly nice beach front hotel called the Seacrest Inn
where they have a great pool/beach front area where we sat around the fire pit (56 degrees), drank wine and ate pizza.
One more overnight before we catch our flight home on Wednesday.

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