When Brian and I go on a driving trip, it is a "Ventures"-- some of them end up as "ADventures", some end up as just plain Ventures and still others end up a combination of the two . . . I think it has something to do with the meanings of both words, not just the fact that we're being cute in our language.

Brian and I left on Saturday afternoon to drive to Morro Bay for our venture-- it has been since October that we've had or taken any kind of time for ourselves-- we've been sick virtually every weekend since the beginning of November and, because of the holidays, also had family commitments that took time.  All-in-all, we were due!  About a month or so ago, I realized that this was going to be a 3-day weekend for me (my company doesn't take very many of those so I definitely wanted to take advantage of it).  I checked with Brian and after a brief discussion, we decided on Morro Bay for lack of anywhere better to go.

That sounds odd, doesn't it?  Well, we've been to Tahoe alot but, since we don't drink (much) or smoke (at all) or gamble (my nerves can't take it!!), there really isn't a lot to do there.  There weren't any shows that we were particularly interested in seeing so, the first step in the process of elimination was done.  The next step in the process of elimination is camping but, it is still too cold (and wet!) for camping, no matter how many Max-It (update on their website soon!) layers we have to wear, so camping was eliminated.  So, I started scouring the web to find someplace to go that had a variety of things to offer for us to do.  We came up with Morro Bay-- I thought I'd heard Brian's folks mention it a time or two but that turns out to not have been the case.  Someone had mentioned it to me as a nice spot to go to so, even though I couldn't think of who it was, that stuck with me and, frankly, I think we were both pleased with the outcome.

First thing that we did was check into our hotel, The Cabrillo Motel-- most all of the "hotels" in the area are "motels" by design-- NOT RECOMMENDED, by the way (and I'll tell you why in a bit).  Then, after unpacking, we made our dinner reservations for a restaurant called "Dorn's" (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) and then, we set out for a short walk around town.  When Brian made the reservation for Dorn's, he asked for directions and was given some long, drawn-out explanation of how to get to the restaurant from our hotel-- we were sure it would take at least 2 days and four tanks of gas!  When we were on our walk along the Embarcadero, we glanced to our left and there was Dorn's!  We put 2 and 2 together and found out that the restaurant was a block and a half from our hotel-- easily walking distance-- No gas or further commute required!!  We went back to our hotel and changed for dinner . . . but, I am getting ahead of myself.

I want to explain about the hotel:  I was disappointed by the Cabrillo because, when I called on January 20 to make my reservation (a full month ahead of time), I spoke to an individual who said that he put me down (as in "promised") that we would have a king-sized bed and fireplace AND an ocean view.  The ocean view was the most important thing to me because I love the ocean and being able to see it from the privacy of a balcony or whatever would've been ideal-- just to hear/see waves crashing.  The package number that we had chosen was Package #2 and we were quoted at that price for our room.  When we arrived, our "Ocean View" turned into a glimpse of the rock if it could be seen between the stairs and the parking lot, on the first floor!  I wasn't happy at all . . . and the room was the same price rate!  And the explanation: NONE!  The gentleman checking us in said that they were all out of ocean view rooms and he couldn't help us-- what could we do?  The entire town was full of "No Vacancy" signs, there was no other hotel to go to so we took the room we were given.  When we walked into the room, it was ice cold and when we turned on the furnace, it didn't work-- they had to send someone to trip the breaker to get it started and then, in the morning, there was only one cup holder!  Geesh!!

Its a funny thing:  Before we left, Brian's folks asked him to give them some ideas since they'd never been there and could make some of their own plans!  Guess what the first "Tip" is going to be?  Stay at the Blue Sail Inn!!!  When we go back to Morro Bay (and we will), we will be staying there, too!  The second tip is going to be EAT ALL OF YOUR MEALS AT DORN'S!!!!

Okay, maybe that's a bit of an over-statement but, we had both of our evening meals on Saturday and Sunday there.  For dinner on Saturday, Brian had broiled salmon (which he never gets at home due to my disdain for seafood) and I had the beef brochette kebob.  His broiled salmon was moist and perfectly broiled while my beef brochettes were melt-in-your-mouth delicious!!  On Sunday night, we both had the New York Steak which was excellent!!  Mine resembled (too much) the animal it was taken from when it first arrived at our table but in very short order, that was corrected and the remainder of the meal was delicious!!  The zucchini was steamed to the appropriate level of done-ness-- the problem was that I kept ordering too much food although we didn't have an appetizer on Sunday night.  Freshly caught prawn cocktail was our appetizer on Saturday evening but, I'm afraid that it kept me being able to eat my vegetable and pilaf although Brian had no problem finishing either of his meals.  There was one thing that Brian wasn't able to do: finish with dessert and that is not an easy thing for him to do!  He does enjoy his chocolate desserts but, in this case, neither of us could've begun to sample anything-- our sufficiency was surrencified!

On Sunday morning, we had a whale-of-a-breakfast at "The Fish Shanty"-- nope, no fish were involved at all but just about everything on the side of town near the marina had "fish" in its name in some manner.  From there, we went Virg's Landing which is the whale-watching company that we used for our trip.  There are a couple but these guys do a great job in tracking down the whales, without stalking them or causing too much interference.  They know the rules of the lane which are to stay more than 100 yards away from the whale(s) and they are good about doing just exactly that!

Brian and I have never had a problem with seasickness but he does get a bit motion-sick on repeated rollercoaster rides so, as a precaution (which I think is only smart anyway), we took our Dramamine a minimum of one hour before our trip and had a good breakfast that we wouldn't want to lose!!  (And, yes, that's all I'm going to say about that!)

When we started our trip, we were at the front of the boat, Brian standing and trying to keep his legs bent so he didn't end up like Graham Nash and me sitting on a rope-holder thing (I'll betcha just love my sea and boat terminology, huh?).  The captain warned us that we were going to hit some rough seas and that the
people on the front were bound to get wet but, we went out about 15 minutes before the first wave hit the boat.  There were three people on the front of the boat, below where the pilot house of the boat was, and they got soaked and moved to the other side of the boat.  There was a couple and their young son (about 11 or so) on the very front and, after they made him put on a poncho that almost took him airborne, they got a huge splash and went to the back of the boat.  (They took the poncho off of their son, too, in hopes that they wouldn't lose him to the wafty
plastic!)  Brian and I and one other gentleman remained on the front, me still sitting on my rope-holder perch, the gentleman standing behind me and Brian standing to the right in front of me.  Unfortunately, Brian was not blocking the path of the as yet larger wave came crashing over the boat, soaking me from head to toe!!  Y'know what?  The Pacific Ocean is really salty tasting!!  I had no idea it was that salty!! ;>)  The picture on the right is two of the points in the circle of volcanic peaks known as "The Seven Sisters".

Well, at this point, I tried to find my sea-legs to walk to the back of the boat.  In the picture above you see that I had a black nylon parka on: the parka pretty much shed the water but the sleeves of the puffy fake fur were soaked!!  And the "cool" part?  My Max-It wear was still dry and the warmest part of my body!!  It was great, once I got the salt water dabbed out of my hair and off my face, anyway!  (Brian is a very smart man for not taking a picture of his soaked wife, don't you think? I, personally, feel that he is brilliant and that just proves my point!)

Our tour, a 2-1/2 hour (Note: NOT a 3-hour tour!) was more than half over and we had still not seen a whale-- I thought I kept seeing the tails flap out of the water but, as a combination of the white caps of the waves and the seagulls flapping their wings in the distance, I was not right.  Eventually, we started to head in and, just as we were
turning to head in, the captain cut the engines-- a whale had spouted in front of us!!  He pointed it out verbally and one-by-one, we were all at the rails and pointing and "Ooohing" and "Aaahing" at the sight of the whale . . . and then, there were TWO of them!!  The tails never came up out of the water but the blowing of the spout was happening, as we were informed by the captain, about every 4 to 7 minutes.  There were also a few times that the whale(s) "rested" on top of the water before going back down but it was difficult to take pictures (using the digital) of those brief "floats".

In the two photos to either side of this line, there were gray whale(s) in those pictures just seconds before!!  Isn't that amazing!!!!  Frankly, as I told Brian a number of times: as long as we were on the ocean, I was happy-- it didn't matter if we did or didn't see any whales, I was just happy to be bobbing up-n-down on the waves.  There were a few people who were not as happy as we when it came to that bobbing action but, then, that was their problem now, eh?  On our ride back into shore, Brian took some more pictures: the first is a couple of seagulls that came along for the draft, another view of Morro Rock from the ocean side, the very tip of Morro Rock, and yet another view of The Rock.  (By the way, as a side note, it was quarried for quite some time which is how it got to be the shape that it is-- I thought it might've been ocean wear but, you can still see where the quarrying was done!)

The rest of Sunday was spent doing the tourist thing and spending some cash in town but actually, for our "norm", we still didn't get very much-- we do have our traditional Christmas ornament that doesn't say "Morro Bay, California" on it (those were quite tacky) but we do have a sparkly shell that'll remind us quite nicely when we go to put it on the tree each year.

This morning we checked out of the hotel and drove north, stopping in a little burg, Cayucos, on the way-- they had a pier that we walked out on for a ways so that Brian could take some very tumultuous wave shots!  We were more than half-way out to the end of the pier before you could feel the waves hitting the wooden pylons!  It reminded me a bit of an earthquake and, although the pier was quite sturdy, I didn't enjoy the concept of walking all the way out to the end-- seemed a bit much to me!
 
 
 
 

We continued our drive up Pacific Coast Highway 1 until we got to Vista Del Mar where we had our breakfast and then, still further by 7 miles north to San Simeon and the Hearst Castle.  Neither of us had been there before so we took the nickel tour-- okay it costs $18.00 per person-- of the Castle.  There were many over-indulgent items of furniture and tapestry and fireplace mantels that were breath-takingly beautiful but, if you look at it in the larger scheme of things, incredibly wasteful.  It was beautiful and informative-- I had asked for a hearing-impaired assistance unit which ended up being quite useful.  Someone ahead, with the guide, would ask a question as we walked and I'd be able to tell Brian and the rest of the people around us the little tidbit of information that she was providing to them in response.  As an example, we were walking down a ramp from the house when I heard her tell someone that the tennis courts were actually the roof of the indoor swimming pool, thus serving a dual purpose.  If I hadn't heard it, we wouldn't have known because it wasn't mentioned in the main part of the tour when we got into the indoor swimming pool area.

Below I've chosen several pictures to share with you-- I've also got a book about the Hearst Castle that I picked up in the gift shop.  As the week goes on, I may run through it and glean a few facts from it to share with you; it really is a marvelous house, despite the fact that it was never finished.  Thirty years of building and it was never finished . . . totally amazing!
 

This is the view from the Visitors' Center to Hearst Castle.	This, however, is the view from Hearst Castle.	How's this for a front door?	Outdoor pool that was always heated, in case William Randolph Hearst showed up!
This is a Greek facade that was brought over from Europe.  "It is old" was the tour guide's comment!	Just one of many marble statues around the pool.	When describing the decor, the guide said, "If it glitters, it is 23k gold, all of it is 23k gold!"	The mantel from one of the guest bedroom suites.
This is the top half of a mantle; the bottom half is the same size for total of approximately 25' high!  Each time it was moved, it was disassembled and remortared.  Hearst bought it in the 1920s  and moved it to this house.	The ceiling of the billiard room.	One of more than a dozen lights in the home theatre room in the Castle.	Unfortunately, you cannot see all of the detail of the silver in the dining room-- it is an amazing collection, including a Mace from 1902 (not quite an antique!).
Although these are on display in the museum, they were once used in the main dining room.  This gives you a feel for the gilt of Hearst's tastes.	This is the indoor pool. It is 10 feet deep at all ends.  Guests didn't like this pool from what we were told, partly because of the depth-- you had to be able to swim!	Remember:  "All that glitters"?  And this is the indoor pool, with all of that chlorine dripping all over the gold-inlaid tiles.	Of course, what's a pool area at the Hearst Castle without a marble statue?

There are a lot more pictures!  Brian will have some of the geeky ones on his site eventually and I'll have more as the week progresses and I read more about the construction of the Castle.  It was really a fascinating tour!

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