Part 2 of our Central Coast road trip!!! Read part 1 HERE.
After our ginormous breakfast of Egg Benedicts and Chuckwagons at Louisa’s Place, we hopped on the 1 and drove up the coastline to check out the awesomest crib in California – Hearst Castle!
It is a beautiful place, to say the least. Also a bit gaudy – it’s a mish-mash of Mediterranean influence, 20′s structured concrete, Spanish (Moorish) embellishments, and Egyptian god statues. Like someone gave the architect a huge blunt and a Bedazzler when he was designing the castle! Pure awesomeness.
You buy a guided tour ticket and hop on the bus, and wiggle up the mountain path to the castle. Sometimes you see zebras that got out of the Hearst Castle private zoo, whom now think they’re cows and graze by the beach most of the time.
Bling on the outside…
… and bling on the inside!
After the introductory guided tour, which lasts for a good 2 hours, we stopped by a vista point at San Simeon Beach (a village that Mr. Hearst created to match his castle – baller!) and oggled at the beach.
Friggin’ windy!
We took some silly photos too.
After some intense karate jumps and oggling, we got hungry and decided to head back to San Luis Obispo for some nosh.
Everyone at Little One’s dorm tells her to eat at Firestone Grill because it “will totally change your life,” so we heeded the advice and stopped by for their much-hyped burgers. I’ve noticed that every time we passed by the joint (we got lost in that small town a few times,) there was a line snaking out of the premises and onto the sidewalk.
Little One ordered a 1/3 pound Cheeseburger, which was rather uninspiring. Sure, the patty was thick and juicy, with good carcinogenic mesquiteness, fresh & crispy vegetables, and thousand island-esque dressing… Just not OMG-good.
Twiggy’s Pig Sandwich was a different matter though. Shreds of tender pork. drenched in sweet and tangy barbecue sauce, MOUNDS OF IT, on a toasted french roll. Did I mention that the french roll was slathered with garlic butter? Yea, it was friggin’ delicious.
Same goes for my Tri Trip Steak Sandwich. Garlic butter’d french roll (crispy!), loaded with tender steak (meaty!), then drowned in their house bbq sauce (tangy!). Friggin’ epic.
Then we bid buh-bye and good luck to our baby sister and hopped back on the 1. Farewell blue skyscape, hello dirty smog!
Hearst Castle
750 Hearst Castle Rd
San Simeon, CA 93452
(805) 927-8601
Firestone Grill
1001 Higuera St Ste A
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
(805) 783-1001
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I’ve always wanted to visit Hearst Castle. Just never got around to it. So ostentatious! Love it!