Day 4: Xanadu
My friends in SLO make good art. The Hypno-Uncle-Sam is my favorite, but the cardboard tree is pretty awesome as well:
After leaving SLO I drove north to Morrow Bay, home of a giant rock that comes out of the ocean. While driving along the coast, you glance over at the sea and suddenly there is a mountain, right where you least expect it.
I stopped at a Morrow Bay guitar store, and saw this awesome giant statue. The shopkeep informed me that the autograph on Gumby's foot is that of his creator. There was also an equally big Pokey, but it wasn't holding a smashed guitar and therefore didn't make a good picture.
I stopped in at a seafood place and figured out quickly why Morrow Bay isn't famous for its food. The "lobster" (sic) tank was full of quite dead and sick-looking crabs - even less appetizing than the healthy, happy crustaceans you see at most seafood joints. I ordered "fresh chips!" (i.e. "those same unfrozen french fries you get at almost any shitty restuarant") and "hot garlic bread" (i.e. "slightly warm garlic beer coasters"), and didn't finish either.
About an hour later I hit Hearst Castle, the ridiculously decadent home of billionare William Randolph Hearst. As a fan of both insane architecture *and* crazy rich people, I just *had* to stop here (even if the ticket prices were a bit of a ripoff - the house was split up into four different tours, with each one costing 20 bucks. I just bought the "beginner's tour"). I had planned to sneak off and explore at my own pace, but the old couple leading the tour were too sweet for me to take advantage of. That, and the fact that theft is apparently a big problem at the antique-filled castle, and the last thing a vagrant explorer like me wants to stir up is suspicion of thievery.
To give you an idea of just how over-the-top Heart Castle is: the image below is not the main house, but one of the guest houses. One of *three* guest houses. The *smallest* of the three.
The pool. Apparently King Posiedon's trident is one of the artifacts that has been stolen.
Main house.
A sweet egyptian fountain. Apparently Hearst bought every antique that he ran across (including most of the ones which were put up for sale through his newspapers). An e-bay addict of his times.
Dining hall. The tour guide said something about "if you're a Harry Potter fan, you'll LOVE this next room," but then never explained it. Was it used in a Harry Potter movie or something? Please clue me in.
The indoor pool. Probably the most awesome room in the house. It's 10 feet deep all around and is trimmed with solid gold. I would pay 100 dollars to swim in it.
After leaving SLO I drove north to Morrow Bay, home of a giant rock that comes out of the ocean. While driving along the coast, you glance over at the sea and suddenly there is a mountain, right where you least expect it.
I stopped at a Morrow Bay guitar store, and saw this awesome giant statue. The shopkeep informed me that the autograph on Gumby's foot is that of his creator. There was also an equally big Pokey, but it wasn't holding a smashed guitar and therefore didn't make a good picture.
I stopped in at a seafood place and figured out quickly why Morrow Bay isn't famous for its food. The "lobster" (sic) tank was full of quite dead and sick-looking crabs - even less appetizing than the healthy, happy crustaceans you see at most seafood joints. I ordered "fresh chips!" (i.e. "those same unfrozen french fries you get at almost any shitty restuarant") and "hot garlic bread" (i.e. "slightly warm garlic beer coasters"), and didn't finish either.
About an hour later I hit Hearst Castle, the ridiculously decadent home of billionare William Randolph Hearst. As a fan of both insane architecture *and* crazy rich people, I just *had* to stop here (even if the ticket prices were a bit of a ripoff - the house was split up into four different tours, with each one costing 20 bucks. I just bought the "beginner's tour"). I had planned to sneak off and explore at my own pace, but the old couple leading the tour were too sweet for me to take advantage of. That, and the fact that theft is apparently a big problem at the antique-filled castle, and the last thing a vagrant explorer like me wants to stir up is suspicion of thievery.
To give you an idea of just how over-the-top Heart Castle is: the image below is not the main house, but one of the guest houses. One of *three* guest houses. The *smallest* of the three.
The pool. Apparently King Posiedon's trident is one of the artifacts that has been stolen.
Main house.
A sweet egyptian fountain. Apparently Hearst bought every antique that he ran across (including most of the ones which were put up for sale through his newspapers). An e-bay addict of his times.
Dining hall. The tour guide said something about "if you're a Harry Potter fan, you'll LOVE this next room," but then never explained it. Was it used in a Harry Potter movie or something? Please clue me in.
The indoor pool. Probably the most awesome room in the house. It's 10 feet deep all around and is trimmed with solid gold. I would pay 100 dollars to swim in it.
posted by BG | 7:10 PM
1 Comments:
No "W" in Morro Bay. Was this the seafood place that's next to the shirt shop on the corner? (Where the road actually bends.)
Oh, and you have no idea how lucky you were to get blue sky. I'm quite jealous.
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