San Simeon(Hearst Castle) to Carmel; Falsettos

San Simeon (Hearst Castle)

We had made reservations for a tour at Hearst Castle http://hearstcastle.org/ but wild fires were raging in California and we were worried about the Castle being closed. It was closed up to the Sunday before our tour date. Hearst Castle was the home of William Randolph Hearst. It is an amazing place located in the middle of nowhere halfway between LA and SF. The state now owns it and runs it as a state park.

We took the basic Grand Rooms Tour. First you see an IMAX movie for 30 minutes and then you  take a 15 minute bus ride up the hill to the house. The views are spectacular. Our tour guide was great and offered some great historical insights into the history of the place. It was truly one of the best guided tours that we have taken because of his commentary.

Visiting the Hearst Castle was fun but we  were not as overwhelmed as we had expected. It is certainly worth visiting and it is certainly completely unexpected for where it is located. It is a very remote section of California.

The outdoor pool under construction

The main house.

The dining room.

 The indoor pool.

Next stop was Carmel another 150 miles up the coast. We took the Pacific Coast Highway which is scenic and slow. It became alot narrower and more  interesting than we had expected. Just north of the Hearst Castle was a beach where seals hang out.

We continued on and were planning to stop at some state parks. We were in the of Big Sur. However due to the fires, many of the parks were closed. We did stop at Limekiln State Park https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=577 and we took a hike to a waterfall. The hike was about 25 minutes and ended at a 100 foot water fall. The followed a stream and we had to cross the stream a number of times. The "bridges' across the stream became flimsier as we hiked.

The hike, while not that strenuous, was just fine for us and it was just enough adventure for us.

 A bridge over the stream.

The falls.

 

 The forest.

 Another bridge.

We were staying at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands in Carmel -By- The -Sea. https://highlandsinn.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html It is a very expensive hotel with great views of the ocean as it sits on a  cliff about 300 yards from the water. It is also partly a Hyatt Vacation Club timeshare hotel which we did not know.

I used some Hyatt points to bring the price of the hotel down from $800 per night to $150. The rooms are nice and they all have wood fireplaces fully stocked. We had a terrace with a beautiful ocean view. The grounds are quite hilly so one needs to be quite ambulatory to get around.

When we checked in, we were offered $250 to hear their presentation for the timeshare. The weather had turned gray and cold for the first time on the  trip so we accepted their offer to listen to the presentation. The sales rep was great and was our age. He told some great stories from the 60's and 70's. Everything was cool until he had to bring over the obligatory manager. She was pushy and obnoxious so we ended the presentation. The $250 paid for the wine I had bought at Daou.

The hotel had 2 wine tastings on the nights that we stayed. Small wineries presented wines each night and the wines were expensive and terrible. California has many small wineries and I guess I can  understand the appeal for most people. You get to "discover " your own little gem. Oh well.

Folktale Winery was one of the wineries.http://www.folktalewinery.com/Folktale_Winery/FOLKTALE.html   The wines we tasted were expensive($35 to $50) and not drinkable. We had a sparkling wine, a Chardonnay, and a Pinot Noir.


The hotel is a 10 minute drive to the town of Carmel. The first night we were tired so we found small food market in town and bought roasted chicken, bread., cheese , desserts and wine and went back to the room. We ate on our terrace and took in the view.

Our hotel terrace.

 The weather was gray and cold; 50's and 60's.

 Coastline before Carmel.

The next day we went to Carmel and took the  17 mile drive. http://www.californiabeaches.com/17-mile-drive-pebble-beach/You have to pay take this road. Actually it is a road through an area with famous golf courses, big homes and beautiful coastline. We stopped at the Pebble Beach Golf course https://www.pebblebeach.com/golf/pebble-beach-golf-links/where there is a hotel, restaurants and shops. The 18th hole is right there as well. The course is over $500 per person to play a round of golf. I looked but did not play.

 The 18th hole.

We went to a farmers market in Carmel. It was small but nice. Local grapes, apples and other produce. An Italian restaurant, Vesuvio, http://chefpepe.com/restaurants/vesuvio/ also provided pizza which you could eat on a table at the market. The pizza was very good. Light, crisp with great ingredients and it was $10.

Carmel has scenic road that takes you along the water with very interesting houses on one side. The houses in Carmel must be very expensive but they are not the big ugly mansions that one would expect. They have character to go with great views.

The second night we ate at Anton and Michele in Carmel. http://www.antonandmichel.com/antonmichel/The restaurant was very pretty with a separate bar area with a fireplace. They have a bar menu that must be eaten in the bar area. You can't get the bar menu in the regular  restaurant but they don't really announce that fact. You need to ask.
 The menu is excellent; varied and reasonably priced. We had lamb chops and the shrimp spring roll. The lamb chops were 2 double chops, nicely cooked, $18, and the spring roll was also very good with lots of tasty shrimp. We ordered a bottle of the Daou Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 for $59. Everyone at the restaurant was very nice.  The service at the restaurant was great ; it seemed like everyone eating was a friend of the hostess.

I have noticed that Daou wines are confusing. The wine pictured below is their regular bottling that is made from purchased grapes and sells for around $25. The wine list and Anton and Michel called it the Estate bottling and this is wrong. In addition, Cellartracker and many search websites show this basic Cabernet as the estate cabernet. The estate Cabernet is hard to find, it is made from grapes grown by Daou and costs $85 at the winery. If you go by bottle weight theory of wine quality, the estate must be better since it is in a heavier bottle.

Wines

2014 Beaujolais wines are out and fairly easy to find. Check out wines from the Crus - especially Morgon, Fleurie, and  Brouilly. Vintage is fairly important in Beaujolais so stick to 2104 for the moment. Prices range for $15 to $30. WTSO has had some really good ones lately for $14.99.

My Garden

We planted kale from seed at the end of August and we are getting an abundance of tender kale right now. Kale can survive frosts. Eggplants are still coming in strong.

Falsettos

We saw Falsettos on Broadway. Great cast but we don't know why it was revived. Boring with forgettable music. The play seems dated. We will see what the critics will say. We like seeing plays in previews so we are not influenced by critics.