Exploring Hearst Castle - Natalie Bourn

Over Thanksgiving break, my family and I went to Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo. While we were there, we spent one day exploring the famous Hearst Castle with Melanie, who is as close to a cousin as you can be without actually being related! When touring this 125 room mansion, we saw beautiful pools, rooms, furniture, gardens, and so much more.

Just before we reached Hearst Castle, we saw a bunch of cars pulled over on the side of the freeway, so we pulled over to see what they were looking at. When we hopped out of the car, THERE WERE ZEBRAS BY THE FENCE! It turns out that William Randolph Hearst at one point had his own private zoo. When it was getting shut down and the animals were being sent to zoos, his daughter let the zebras out and they have let them roam ever since!

We first stopped at the visitor’s center, browsed through the museum and store, and watched a movie about Hearst. Then we hopped on a bus that took us all the way to the top of the mountain where the extraordinary castle is built.

Once we entered this fantastic castle we all went on a guided tour. One of these rooms was a dinning room. The tour guide told us that Mr. Hearst invited many people over to his house over the weekend. The most important people that Mr. Hearst invited all sat next to him — especially the movie stars. The table had assigned seating and guests were required to stick to a VERY specific time schedule.

The guests got to go swimming in the fancy pools while visiting. The first pool was a roman themed pool and Mrs. Morgan and Mr. Hearst remodeled this pool several times — it has has many columns and archways and a gorgeous view of the ocean. Today you can still rent this outdoor pool and patio area for private pool parties. Hearst also had an indoor pool with a diving platform. The walls in the pool, the bottom of the pool, and the platform were all neatly detailed and used a lot of gold.