Experiencing California: Big Sur, Hearst Castle and Solvang

My husband and I are house swapping, a 1914 renovated farmhouse in Santa Cruz our base during a 12-day California adventure.

Two days of our trip involved a drive along the California coast and a stay in the Danish-inspired town of Solvang, north of Santa Barbara. We traveled Route 1 south, a two-lane road hugging the Central California coast, winding over, around and through mountains and valleys. This is Big Sur, a sparsely populated (except during tourist season) sliver of coast where the St. Lucia Mountains meets the Pacific Ocean.

We experienced breath-taking scenery, lofty, jagged mountains, uneven, rocky coastlines and dynamic seas as large waves broke against the shore. It is a long, unhurried drive. There was little traffic, but the snaking road thwarts fast driving. The distance from Santa Cruz to San Simeon, location of Hearst Castle, is 135 miles. The drive took four hours. Brief stops were made for picture taking, one stop for gas, and a stopover at the Big Sur General Store for a rest room break, a walk around to stretch our legs, and an opportunity to purchase drinks and snacks.

We spent a couple of hours touring Hearst Castle, at one time the largest private home in the world. Hearst Castle was not visible from the road, clouds hiding the mountaintop. Visitors take a bus from the visitors center at the bottom of the hill along a windy road, through landscaped vistas of fruit trees, open fields, flowers and trees carefully planted and tended by an unknown but huge number of landscapers and gardeners over decades.

The home was designed by San Francisco architect Julia Morgan in partnership with William Randolph Hearst over a period of 28 years. I did not realize W.R.’s father initially accumulated the Hearst fortune, making his money in mining. Hearst Sr. purchased the land, using it as a campsite for his family and eventually establishing a working ranch on the property. Cattle still roam the ranch and beef continues to be produced.

The purchase of a tour ticket is a prerequisite to ascending the mountain to La Cuesta Encantada, the Enchanted Hill, so-called by Hearst. The tour lasts about an hour and provides an overview of the home and what life was like on the hill. Visitors walk through several rooms decorated with European furniture and tapestries dating back centuries. Guests are allowed to roam the outdoor grounds following the tour. There is also a 45-minute movie shown in a theater in the visitor’s center.

The residence always functioned as a haven away from the hustle and bustle of Hearst’s business life. The tour offers a peek into a lifestyle 99% of us will never experience. The Hearst family relinquished control of the castle in the 1950s. It is now a state operated tourist site. I would have liked to stay longer, but we were on a schedule, meeting friends in Solvang for dinner.

The two-hour drive south to Solvang meanders through mostly rural countryside. Solvang, on the other hand, is far removed from the aristocratic bearings of Hearst Castle or a pastoral, rural life style. It is a trip into a stereotypical American tourist spot.

Danish settlers built the town in the early years of the twentieth century. Building facades and souvenirs bow to the Danish origins of the town. Today you might think you were walking through Disneyworld. Streets lined with hotels, motels, restaurants and shops sell clothing, trinkets and souvenirs from cheap and tacky to expensive.

We had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant in Los Olivos, a small town about five miles outside Solvang. The main street of white, low-slung buildings is picture-postcard charming. The shops house wine tasting rooms, boutiques and restaurants.

We enjoyed breakfast at Paula’s Pancake House in Solvang, a lively, crowded café, and spent time walking around town, enjoying a beautiful sunny day, few crowds and the cute, quaint, but undeniably tacky décor. A drive to a winery outside town and a wine tasting concluded our stay.

We parted ways with our friends. They headed to their home south of Los Angeles, and we headed north, back to Santa Cruz.

A late lunch at a café housed in an art gallery in the tiny enclave of Los Amigos, a few miles north of Solvang, was delicious but not cheap. Inexpensive restaurant fare is not easily found in this state, even in the most unpretentious areas. Los Amigos is one street with a few wooden buildings comprising a couple of cafes, art galleries, antique stores and local non-retail businesses.

We took the fast road back to Santa Cruz, Route 101. It gets dark early in December and we were tired. The road passed through sparsely populated, empty countryside for the first couple of hours. Finally reaching King City and Salinas, we were once again among the lights, shopping centers, neon signs and fast food eateries of twenty-first century American civilization. Less than an hour later we arrived at our temporary home away from home.