The heat is on

We stayed at San Simeon so that we could visit Hurst Castle. This extensive property is located on the top of a hill five miles up a mountain road. I had pre-booked on the 10am upstairs rooms tour to ensure we got on a tour at a convenient time. We arrived at the Visitor centre in good time to get the shuttle up the hill.

The ‘castle’ is an amazing building with 39 bedrooms and 42 bathrooms. Hurst bought large quantities of art works from Europe after WW1. Things like whole ceilings, fire surrounds , Doors and works of art. The castle was never finished in part because he kept on changing his mind and adding extra. The most impressive room was the study. The indoor pool was stunning with over a million Murano glass tiles, where the gold colour was the real thing. We had wondered if it was going to be worth visiting. The clear answer was yes.

The Tower at Hurst Castle

Library at Hurst Castle

Indoor Pool at Hurst Castle

We had lunch, sitting in the car down the road at Moonstone Beach. It was a bit too cool to sit outside. With that we said goodbye to the coast and headed inland. Our destination was Visalia, the city which is the gateway to Sequoia National Park. The road passed through significant sections where the hills were burnt and dry. Then across wide plains where there were all sorts of crops growing, but only because they were being irrigated. Part of the area is the largest Dairy farming area in the USA. We saw several of these dairy farms, all the animals in barns, with large fans to keep them cool.

There were also signs of the severe drought affecting California. From some fields with trees which had been abandoned, now dead, to many signs promoting the use of water to grow food. Water is the really valuable commodity here. Without irrigation it would be a dust bowl.

The air conditioning in the car shielded us from the increase in the temperature. It hit you as soon as the door was opened however. 39 degrees at 5pm. We have a very comfortable unit and one of the cheapest we will stay in at $100 NZ for the 3 of us.

I had filled the car [ from just under ¼ ] with petrol for the grand sum of $30 US. That is just over $40 NZ. Not too painful.

We drove to downtown Visalia to go to a money machine and to have dinner. Once again we enjoyed a very tasty and wholesome meal. Good food if you steer clear of the  take away chains.

We stopped at a supermarket on the way back to the motel to get supplies for breakfast and for lunch tomorrow. An early night is planned so we can get a good start to the  National Park tomorrow.