This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

Second day of spring break was a very nice day too. It started with a pancake breakfast with the new olallieberry jam I bought last night at the Farmer’s Market. It was good. Then Patrick picked me up and we started our roadtrip up to San Francisco. It took longer than I expected but it was so worth it going up on the Pacific Coast Highway 1 instead of the much faster and much more boring freeway.

Our first stop on the way was Hearst Castle. I have known about it since I was in San Diego and I have always wanted to go since one of my hostkids told me about it and how beautiful it was. We took a tour of the cottages on the grounds and then walked around by ourselves. It was a pretty . Hearst was a rich man in the 1920’s and forward and built this big castle with pools, tennis courts, amazing guest cottages and a beautiful garden. The view from up there was so incredible, the green hills, the palm trees, the oak trees, the ocean way down.

We stopped for lunch at a place in Cambria called Main Street Grill and it was a Firestone!! So I got my pulled pork sandwich finally! So delicious.

And then the rest of the roadtrip began, the most beautiful part of it. The PCH 1 is so amazingly beautiful. We did a few stops on the way to watch the sun slowly set over the water. We then stopped for the final part of the sunset at Julia Pfeiffer Burn  State Park which is a beautiful beach with a waterfall way down below the PCH. Last time I did this I didn’t see the waterfall, but today we went down a bit and saw it. It is also possible to walk down to the beach, we didn’t really had time for that though so that will be another time. The sunset was beautiful as always and I got a really really good photo with my HDR app. I will be non-modest about it and say that it might be National Geographic worthy, haha.

When we left the curvy mountainside roads, I took over the wheels and drove for a couple of hours and then Patrick drove the last part into San Francisco. We are staying at a hotel tonight and tomorrow I am meeting up with Helena and Nicki. I am so excited for this spring break. It has already started and it has done so in a very good way!

Goodnight from San Francisco!

(2015-03-21, 02:50)

 Mountain view from Hearst Castle. Ocean view from Hearst Castle. One of the sitting rooms in one of the cottages. Hearst’s bed when he spent time at this estate. One of the “cottages”, more like a big fancy house!  The outdoor pool with no water in it. Hearst liked foreign stuff and animals. He had the biggest private zoo in all of the States or something like that, he also had this Egyptian thing which was over 3000 years old. All the interiors were copied from 1500’s Italy and France.     The indoor pool was so nice. Then we stopped and watched the elephant seals. Last time there were only males, now only females, one male that we could see. Lots of babies too.  The sunset was so beautiful!  Last time I didn’t see the waterfall on the beach. Next time I will go down there!