After a brief photo stop at one of the many vista points at San Simeon, we went to
Hearst Castle ($24 guided tours only) on a hill top among the beautiful 82000 acres of coastal land.
Tour 1 includes a National Geographic IMAX movie on how the castle was conceived and built, a tour of one of the guest houses, the cathedral-like main house (la casa grande), a theater,
the Neptune pool (drained now in order to fix some leak), a theater, the indoor pool, the former zoo area on the way back. It's a hodgepodge of Hearst's large European collection
(17th century Flemish tapestry, 18th century French furniture, Moorish mosaic, Spanish monastery tables, and a few ancient Greek vases and Roman statues). Julia Morgan did an excellent job of fusing these elements together. 28 years of hard work paid off. As for the tour, informative, however, too many people in one group (they tried to fill the tour bus).
The drive from the SW entrance of the
Sequoia National Park is slow (often < 20mph), climbing 1000m. No giant sequoia trees, but grand vista of mountain range. It's possible to climb the Moro Rock, which I should have done.
General Sherman Tree, the largest living thing in the world (83.8m tall and 31.3m in circumference at its base), is in the Giant Forest grove. About 1 mile walk one way. There's another cluster of sequoias towards the NW entrance, at Grant Grove.
Hwy 180 west leaves the parks and leads to Fresno.
Hwy 180 east travels into Kings Canyon, climbing first and then dropping down to the bottom of the gorge. A pleasant drive by the river and waterfalls.
After a brief photo stop at one of the many vista points at San Simeon, we went to Hearst Castle ($24 guided tours only) on a hill top among the beautiful 82000 acres of coastal land. 
Tour 1 includes a National Geographic IMAX movie on how the castle was conceived and built, a tour of one of the guest houses, the cathedral-like main house (la casa grande), a theater, 
the Neptune pool (drained now in order to fix some leak), a theater, the indoor pool, the former zoo area on the way back. It's a hodgepodge of Hearst's large European collection 
(17th century Flemish tapestry, 18th century French furniture, Moorish mosaic, Spanish monastery tables, and a few ancient Greek vases and Roman statues). Julia Morgan did an excellent job of fusing these elements together. 28 years of hard work paid off. As for the tour, informative, however, too many people in one group (they tried to fill the tour bus).
The drive from the SW entrance of the Sequoia National Park is slow (often < 20mph), climbing 1000m. No giant sequoia trees, but grand vista of mountain range. It's possible to climb the Moro Rock, which I should have done. 
General Sherman Tree, the largest living thing in the world (83.8m tall and 31.3m in circumference at its base), is in the Giant Forest grove. About 1 mile walk one way. There's another cluster of sequoias towards the NW entrance, at Grant Grove.
Hwy 180 west leaves the parks and leads to Fresno. 
Hwy 180 east travels into Kings Canyon, climbing first and then dropping down to the bottom of the gorge. A pleasant drive by the river and waterfalls.
