From Castle to Ship

Saturday August 21. Continued to ride down the coast and came across a view point of the ocean where there was a sign about elephant seals on the beach. This is one of two that were resting. Down the beach further was a group of another kind of seal and that were also relaxing on the beach.

Shortly after that I came to Hearst Castle. This is an amazing place built by William Randolf Hearst in the 1930's. It's beautiful and designed to be like some to the European castles he loved. It contains hundreds of artifacts that he collected from Europe. I kept wondering how fair life is when one family can have this much money when all around him people are suffering through the depression.

The pool and castle hosted many of the rich and famous of the day. Watched a good movie there about Hearst's life and times.

After eating a great bbq'd roast beef sandwich, I headed south along the coast again towards LA. I didn't really want to stay in LA, but to just get within striking distance before dark. Had some difficulty finding a motel, and suddenly found myself on one of LA's many freeways in the dark. I had a destination in my head that I hoped to get to tomorrow, but decided to continue on and get there tonight.

Followed the highway until I saw a sign for the interstate that headed south to San Diego. Followed that until I saw signs for Long Beach, and following that I found the Queen Mary! This is the ocean liner from the 1930's that also served as a troop carrier during WWII. It's been docked for a number of years now and is set up as a hotel.

Luckily they had a room. Checked in about nine and wandered around the ship exploring until about eleven.