ElAbOrAtE cAstlE

So, Richard and I headed south and along the way, it began to rain. Not a big deal for us, coming from Florida, except this rain did not stop. It rained for the remainder of our stay in California. We stopped along the way at various vista points to check out the view. One time, we stopped but the wind was so strong, Richard could not even open his car door. So we moved on dow Route 1. It was beautiful! Racing downa winding road on jagged 90 degree cliffs kissing the Pacific ocean what seems like miles below.

We arrived in Santa Baraba that evening and it was still raining. We settled down and eventually crashed. It was nice to visit Stu. He showed us around Santa Barbara the next day, unfortunately, it was still raining.... limiting our ventures. I had wanted to visit the college there, UCSB, which Stu attends for Marine Science. I have applied to thier Geology program and wanted to check it out. We briefly visited a few areas of campus. It was nice.... right on the beach. It would be wonderful to attend grad school at a campus located on the coast.

The next day, Richard and I took advantage of a brief break in the rain and headed north. Due to all the rain, a landslide had closed a portion of the coastal road, which was the route we were going to take so, we took another road into the mountains. It was very beautiful. On the way back to San Francisco we stopped at a place called Hearst Castle. It was built by a man named Hearst, who apparently was a bit of a nature lover and valued the trees on the estate. Some of the pictures from the Castle and surrounding are are below....