Central California Trip Report - Day 4 (Hearst Castle)

We spent our final day along the Central California Coast with another visit to Hearst Castle. This time, we took Tour 4: The Garden and Guest House (Casa Del Mar). I specifically chose this tour thinking that Russell and Punky would be better behaved if we spent the bulk of the tour outside viewing the garden complex. Turns out I was only partially correct (Punky has a meltdown towards the end), but Jenny and her mom liked this tour better than the one we took a day earlier. Along the way, we viewed the Pool Dressing Rooms, the Wine Cellar and the main Guest House (Casa Del Mar). I should note that Casa Del Mar is the largest of Hearst's three guest houses, and is itself around twice the size of our own house!

Having checked out of the hotel earlier, we headed back home upon the conclusion of the tour straight up Route 101. Unlike previous long roadtrips, Russell did not get car sick along the way. This is because we were careful to minimize our consumption of junk food during the trip, even bringing along the rice cooker to cook dinner for the kids on two nights (steamed chicken, egg and rice).

Among the new lessons learned from this trip are:

1) Russell and Punky like pools, especially heated ones
2) Russell and Punky have a maximum 2-hour attention span
3) Jenny and her mom like hot tubs
4) My driving limit is 3 hours of continuous driving
5) Russell and Punky prefer hotel suites (Embassy Suites, Homewood Suites) over hotel rooms (Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn)