Saturday, July 31, 2010

Hearst Gardens and Vistas

I think California State Parks at Hearst Castle has been reading my blog.

Why, you ask? Because they have a new tour, just for me! It's the Garden and Vistas Self Guided Tour! BEST THING EVER! All these years, I have dreamed of wandering around the grounds at my own pace! All those paths not taken? They have officially been taken! WOOOOOOOOOHOOOO!

This is one of my favorite paths. I have my camera out, I'm taking a video, and I am so excited!


If this next picture doesn't look familiar to you, it's because you have never seen it before. It isn't accessible on any of the regular tours, so of course you've never seen it.



This is of the same area.


And the same area, again.


I'm obsessed because I've never seen this terrace before, which means I've never seen the fountains, both with newly gilded statues on top, one with a woman holding a rose, another about to kiss a frog.

Also, a bonus with this tour is that we got to sit on stuff! Appropriate things only, of course, but at least we got to sit down, and just soak it all in!




The ticket price includes the movie, so we saw the movie before we went up the hill. You can be up there for four hours, if you wish. We were on the hill about 2.5 hours, I think, and it was the perfect amount of time for us. I particularly wanted to be up there for the sunset. At sunset, the bells in the two towers ring, which is a great bonus.


Father waiting for the bells to ring.





Did you spy me in that last picture? I'm sure you didn't, because my Greek Pool Goddess pose is so natural.

Speaking of pools, I was able to walk all around it. This has simply been unheard of before. This tour was like a ticket to freedom.



See those stairs behind us? I've never been able to walk on them, but the other night I did. Twice.

4 comments:

Kylie said...

That is seriously cool! I have only been to Hearst Castle once. Unless I've been twice, but I feel like I've only been once. I'm going to go with once.

Anyway, my dad is cheap so we took the cheapest tour there was. We didn't see a movie. We didn't see much really. We did see a souvenir shop, where I bought a bookmark that I still have.

Now I want to go again!

Kayde & Orion said...

My friend's boyfriend is a tour guide there, or something like that, and they get to swim the big pool once a year! The point to this story is that my friend gets to swim in the pool every year! She has pictures of her swimming and working on her tan right by the statues.

Jamie Pearson said...

Wow thats so cool. Maybe I'll have to go when i'm home in Dec. Is that tour going to be open all year? Are you going to be home for Christmas this year?

Tara said...

Wow this sounds amazing! I went a few weeks ago when my friends were visiting from out of town so we did tour number one, since I rarely go it’s always on that’s kinda fresh for me….but this, this sounds amazing!Great pics by the way!