Monterey & more!!!

I'm still working on this.

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

Car.

A wonderful experience. The private sulfur spa was incredible. I did not want the experience or my time there to end. Our room was very romantic, quiet, and private. This is the perfect place for a getaway. Highly recommended. I will definitely return to Sycamore Mineral Springs.

Directions
From Northbound 101:
1. Exit Avila Beach Drive
2. Follow as road curves to the left (west)
3. Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort is located one mile down on the left hand side

From Southbound 101:
1. Exit Avila Beach Drive (do NOT take "Avila Beach San Luis Bay Drive" exit)
2. Turn right at the stop sign onto Avila Beach Drive
3. Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort is located one mile down on the left hand side

Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort is situated on 116 acres in the picturesque Avila Valley. Located half way between Los Angeles and San Francisco just half a mile off of highway 101, and eight miles from the airport at San Luis Obispo, California.

We were down on Canery Row and decided we would eat at Bubba's because of the movie. It has a casual atmosphere and a beautiful view.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Company is a great place to relax. The waiters/waitresses were friendly and a little humorous. Shrimp is probably one of my favorite meals, so we ordered a couple of buckets and began to demolish them. I was really surprised, but it was the best shrimp I have had on the west coast. We had a great time enjoyed great food - what more can you ask for?

Highlights:
On the 17 mile drive you will find Hotel Del Monte, which opened in 1880. The elegant Hotel Del Monte opened its doors to the public. Among the many diversions available to guests was a horse-drawn carriage ride on a scenic, 17-mile gravel road, a road that ribboned its way around the Monterey Peninsula and through the Del Monte Forest. Today, 17-Mile Drive remains one of the most enchanting and famous stretches of road in the country, with much of its most dramatic surroundings remarkably unchanged from those first, historic tours. It is one of only nine private toll roads in the country, and the only one west of the Mississippi. Discover nature's treasures on the magnificent 17-Mile Drive at Pebble Beach. As you wend your way deep into the majesty of the 5,000-acre Del Monte Forest, you will quickly feel the magic of this legendary scenic tour. Home to the Lone Cypress, Seal and Bird Rocks, Fanshell Beach, Point Joe, and the colliding currents of The Restless Sea, you'll travel this showcase with a sense of awe for what nature has created.

Quick tips/suggestions :
Take it slow and enjoy the scenery. We stopped alongside the road and saw quite a few deer and other wild life. After the 17 mile drive we continued on to Hurst Castle.

A intro of Hearst Castle:
William Randolph Hearst told architect Julia Morgan in 1919: "Miss Morgan, we are tired of camping out in the open at the ranch in San Simeon and I would like to build a little something." Thirty years later, that little something had grown to 165 rooms set amidst 127 acres of gardens and terraces. Hearst lived and entertained at San Simeon with his long-time girlfriend, actress Marion Davies. Their guests included Hollywood stars, politicians, and dignitaries such as Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Charles Lindbergh, and Winston Churchill. Tonight, we pretend we've received an invitation to come to "the ranch." We're taking the Hearst Castle Night Tour, featuring docents in 1930s costumes posing as Hearst's guests. During the day, the immense house feels like a museum, with guides leading visitors past lifeless surroundings and talking about their history. At night, warm lighting and people in the rooms - women sipping martinis over their card game, reporters typing their days' stories in their bedrooms and lovers strolling the grounds - bring the massive house alive.

The nighttime tour in my opinion is the best tour I've ever been on. When you arrive your greeted by the tour guide who leads you thru the castle, giving facts about the castle residents and history. But what surprised me was the "Living Docents". They fit the part and made the castle come alive, like it must have been in the 30's. The rooms/furnishing are extravagant and pictures can’t do them justice.

This is my favorite Hearst Castle tour. If you plan to take it, and you have time, you may want to see the Castle during daylight, too. Hearst Castle Evening Tour (spring and fall, most Friday and Saturday evenings). Tours Three or Four are the best daytime complements to the evening tour because they overlap the least.

Docents in period clothing act as Hearst's guests and staff. Early 1930s newsreel. Four guest rooms flanked by open walkways The Library - books, Greek vase collection. Hearst's private suite, the entire third floor of the Hearst Castle Pantry/Kitchen - food preparation area 18-room guest cottage.

After the nighttime tour we took a nighttime stroll to top off the evening. It was a wonderful way to end the day.