Hello San Francisco

Rest stop between San Diego and San Francisco. Staying in this area is when we got to visit the awesome Hearst Castle

I tried to trade our RV for this cute pink trailer. Room for me but not Jeff so I decided not to trade. 

Look what I found driving down the highway. My home town... Go Mt. Olive 

Drive between San Diego and San Francisco

Lucky Gail  - Jeff saw a billboard on our way to San Francisco of my favorite wine. I was so excited until we tried to pull this large Motorhome into their small parking area. Of course out runs a manager and looked at us like we were crazy. I opened the door and said I just want to buy some of my favorite wine. I guess he thought what a weirdo and felt sorry for us and told us where to park. After turning around and tearing up a small area of their lawn we got parked (I did tell them that we tore up a little lawn)  I was so excited to be their and try some other varieties of J. Lohr wine. At 10:00 am in the morning I tasted 4 different cabernet's and fell in love. I bought 3 bottles that you can't buy in the stores and a sweatshirt. I left with a buzz and excitement from my purchases. 

Here is a small area of the vineyard. The wines I bought are from hand picked gapes. The wine I normally drink is from machine picked. 

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Delicious Dinner at Hitching Post (where they filmed the movie Sideways)....we enjoyed a wonderful glass of wine and a steak. 

~~~~~~~~~Happy Trails~~~~~~~~~

Hello San Francisco

A little fact most of you don't know. In 1993 Jeff and I visited San Francisco and fell in love with the coffee bars.  We went home and Jeff started his extensive search and knowledge about opening a coffee store.  In 1995 the 1st - The Coffee Link was developed and open the 1st store in downtown St. Louis. Very successful so we opened a second but changed the name to The Coffee and Bagel Link. That wasn't enough for Jeff so we opened a third store. Poor Nathan and Tamara started working at a young age. Nathan (age 16) made bagel dough and Tamara ( age 12 ) made cream cheese. After hard work and dedication we closed all stores in 1999. 

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San Francisco Independent Film Festival

57th Year. 

We saw 7 movies and talked to many interesting people. We would stand in line for 1 hour in advance because every movie is sold out. There is a waiting list line for all the movies. While waiting in line that is where we meet so many friendly people. 

The movies that we saw:

Supermensh: The Legend of Shep Gordon - Mike Myers produced this fascinating documentary of the life of famous Talent Manager, Shep Gordon. Shep's 1st client was Alice Cooper. Shep was a young Jewish man on a lot of drugs and no job. He was staying at a hotel when he heard a lady screaming. He thought she was being beat up but it was Janice Joplan and she was having sex at the pool. Shep try's to break it up and Janice punched him. The next day they run into each other and she felt bad and introduced him to many celebrities and said that he should be a manager for rockers.  He didn't have anything to do so he thought why not. He didn't have a company name or business cards when he was talking to his prospective clients. Someone said have a name and showed him the peace sign. He went to a dictionary and saw the letter v which looks like a piece sign, so Alive Enterprise was borned. 

After some of the independent shows at the film festivals, they have a question and answer session. We were so lucky because Sammy Hagar was there with Shep answering questions. Fascinating person.  Mike Myers didn't get to make it because he just had a baby daughter. 

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The Dog - wonderful documentary of John Wojtowicz, whose 1972 robbery of a Brooklyn bank for his transgender brides sex change. This is the 1975 classic Dog Day Afternoon.  What a classic movie and now creating a documentary so we could hear more of this person's life. Really enjoyed this. 

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Cesar's Last Fast- Very educational and fascinating what this powerful person went thru to help protect and organize labor for his people. Jeff and I saw another movie in Las Vegas on Cesar. In California, there are streets named after this icon.   What a great person. 

When we were in line for this movie we got to talk to an interesting lady that particated in the protest when Cesar was fighting the grape growers. She got to meet Cesar.   She gave us some interesting places to visit when we are in Seattle. She also gave us a person that is well known in the area that would take care of us. 

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Fed Up - Another great movie. Katie Couric produced this documentary. This focused on America's obesity. I learned a lot of interesting things about sugar. I was surprised on all the fast food offered in school. Gosh when I was in school we didn't have any fast food choices. 

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The Double - 

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Tracks - Wonderful True Story - a young woman decided to walk to the Indian Ocean, 2000 miles across Australia, with 4 camels and a dog. 

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Standing Aside, Watching - this was my least favorite. Awesome look at era of Greece. 

This is an advertisement of a movie. Didn't realize when Jeff took picture that it said young and beautiful. I wish I was   :-)

~~~~~RV Park in San Francisco~~~~~

San Francisco RV Resort

Pacifica, CA

This is our view from our RV Park.  On Sunday we saw a whale. It was spectacular. 

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The famous crooked street in San Francisco. Didn't try it in our motor home. That would of been interesting. 

~~~~~Left Over San Diego Sites~~~~~~

Ripleys Belief it or Not Museum - so many interesting items. Also a very interesting story about Mr. Ripley. 

This next design was from a Florida man taking a 2 mile walk everyday and picking up Nails and Screws and then sticking them into this tire. 

I would hate to run into this Animal. 

What a weird coffin

Stay tuned for our next adventure. We have 2 quick stops before reaching Seattle Film Festival. We are in Seattle for almost 4 weeks. So much to see in the area. There will be day trips with our tow car. 

Love to all...Gail 

Special Edition - Hearst Castle

William Randolph Hearst created his private retreat which he called The Enchanted Hill. 

Hearst Castle is located on the majestic Central Coast of California. 

A little history on the Hearst Family:

George Hearst (which is William's father) invested in mines and struck it rich in 1859 when he invested in a mine that produced high grade silver ore. He took the silver ore on muleback to San Francisco and sold the silver ore which he made roughly "$91,000 profit (which is $3,550,000.00 in 2013 US dollars)". 

Mr. George Hearst purchased the land from the Mexicans at a very low price of 70 cents per acre. He purchase 240,000 acres. George and his wife and children would go to the property and they would pitch a tent to stay there and explore the land.  George and his Wife never built a house on this spectacular property. 

William as a child loved the property and would spend many hours just dreaming. A lot of his dreams came from his traveling throughout Europe with his mother as a young child. He was always interested in castles and appreciated the finer things. 

William inherited the property from his father but did not build his castle until he was 56 years old which was in 1919.  William along with his female architect, Julia Morgan designed and built the 68,000 square foot castle. It took 28 years to build.  There are 165 rooms.  There are 3 guest houses. Neptune pool and Roman pool. Tennis courts. He also had many zoo animals on the property. 

When William died his children did not want to keep in the family because of the up keep. They want to donate to Berkley University. Berkley did not want to accept this donation because the enormity of up-keep of the property. State of California wanted the property and the castle so The Hearst Corporation gave to California in which The Hearst received a huge Tax deduction. 

Also remember the famous kidnapping of Patty Hearst in 1974. Her father, Randolph Hearst is one of William Randolph's sons. 

For me, it was one of the best and most fascinating tours I have ever taken. There are 4 different tours and we just had time for one. See all the gorgeous pictures below. Pictures do not do this Castle justice. It took my breath away all the beauty of art and sculptures. This is just a small amount of beauty that we got to enjoy. If you get the chance, it is an awesome treasure. 

This is partial picture of the main castle. 

A closer view.

Front of castle

Front door in which Mr. Hearst and his guest would use. 

Backside of side of Castle

Side view of Castle. 

Side view of Castle. 

Inside the Assembly Room, William's guests would meet before dinner. He would only allow his guests 1 alcohol drink before dinner. After all his guests were there he would appear from a hidden door. 

   

Dining Table

Grounds of the Castle

Grounds of the Castle

Grounds of the Castle - the following are some of his fabulous sculptures 

Another sculpture which is a buriel casket. There were approcimately 4 throughout the property. 

There are 3 guest homes. See below

Theater Room- because of the darkness we couldn't get great pictures. These sculptures were on the walls 

Tennis courts

Neptune Pool - this magnificent pool was out for service. It will take 2 years to clean and repair the cracks. Behind me the pattern on the floor is the bottom of the pool. It is made out of Vermont granite. 

Roman Pool - this is built under the Tennis Court. This is an inside stunning pool. When you walk in, the spectacular mosaic tile is overwhelming. It is on the floor, walls and inside the pool. This pool made a wow statement. 

This following view, hard to see but a diving area

This is a closier view of the mosaic tile.