Hearst Castle: Trip Report

Location: near San Simeon, CA (on the coast halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles)
Time of Year Best to Visit: November thru May, summers can get very hot

Hearst Castle sits among and atop the dramatic Santa Lucia Range looking 1,600 feet down to the Pacific Ocean.  The castle has been donated by the Hearst family to the state of California.  Different tours are now conducted of the estate.  The tours explain the history.  The tours explain the buildings, rooms, statues, surrounding hills, pools and what it all is.  The tours are not for everybody.  

Due to the sensitive nature of the furniture and decor inside the buildings, and most tours run through the buildings, little kids, especially toddlers, do not do well. While in a building with a crazed and restless two year old, I was escorted outside.  They were so nice about it, I was actually smiling and agreeable, not realizing what was happening until I found myself on the porch, alone with my kid, door slamming behind me.  Also, being on these grounds is what I would imagine a Scientology compound to be like.  There was a gang of guards (employees) walking around smiling and joking, but quick to correct a wayward tourist, which I was on three or four occasions.

Overall, the tour is good, but expensive.  Summary: a really rich guy spent a lot of money to build a really nice castle and now people pay money to the government to go look at it.

Big Sur Pfeiffer Burns State Park Overlook Trail

Location: 37 miles south of Carmel, CA
Distance: very easy 1 mile
Time of Year Best: year round

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is home of the beautiful 80 foot McWay Waterfall that can be viewed from the Overlook Trail.  There is camping above the cove. While driving, it is easy to drive past this cove and never knowing it was there.  For more accurate trip planning, the address of the parking area is: 65100 Cabrillo Highway (Highway One); Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park; Big Sur, CA 93920. You can either park in the official parking area and pay a day fee or park along Highway One for free.  The trail heads north of the cove offering expanding views of the coast and ocean.  The Overlook Trail to McWay Waterfall in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is awesome.

Alcatraz Island

Alcatraz Penitentiary Sign

Alcatraz Island as a penitentiary shut down in 1963.  Now it is a National Monument and a throbbing hub of tourism attracting over one million visitors per year.  It has been a main stay in the top attractions in the San Francisco area.  Before visiting Alcatraz, there are some preparations you can make.  And once you are on the island, there is much to do, see, and learn.

How to Prepare:

Properly preparing for a trip to Alcatraz Island can make your visit much more enjoyable.

First, know what day and time you want to visit Alcatraz and then reserve your tickets with Alcatraz Cruises.  There are several different tours and prices to choose.  These reservations can fill up weeks in advance

Give yourself plenty of time to arrive before your departure time due to traffic or any other unforeseen problems.  The boats leave from Pier 33.  Parking in the area is expensive ($40 for the day).  A few blocks
away from Pier 33 is a $10 flat rate all dayparking area between Kearny Street. and Montgomery Street.

Bring food.  There is no food sold on Alcatraz Island.

Bring a hat and good walking shoes.  The sun is bright and there is a lot of standing and walking involved in a tour of this island.  Wear layers of clothing.  It will be chilly early and in some of the deeper parts of the prison, but being in the sun will warm things up even in the winter.

Educate yourself.  There are some excellent books and movies about Alcatraz.

• Book - Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years
• Book - Letters from Alcatraz
• Documentary - Real Story: Escape From Alcatraz  
• Movie - Escape from Alcatraz with Clint Eastwood
• YouTube Documentary - Alcatraz Island History

What to do on the Island:

Immediately after being dropped off, a National Parks staff member will welcome the guests descending from the boat and explain the do's and don'ts.  At this point you will be able to get a brochure type map.  From the map, you can plot your path.

There will be some walking and a lot of standing.

There is an audio tour in the main prison that lasts about 45 minutes.  Don't miss this part of your visit.

Throughout the island there are plagues, short videos, and tutorials to visit.

Also, if you have a smartphone, there are some geocaches on Alcatraz Island.  Finding this role play cache could be fun.

Take pictures.  Have fun and be happy you are visiting as a tourist.

Alcatraz Island Early Morning Fog

Alcatraz Prison Recreation Area

Alcatraz Prison Jail Cell

Alcatraz Prison Guard/Tourist

Alcatraz Prison Mess Hall

Golden Gate Bridge from Alcatraz

Alcatraz Island Dock

Alcatraz Island Departure

Muir Woods Main Trail

Muir Woods Entrance

Location: 30 minutes north of San Francisco

Distance:  2 miles
Difficulty: very easy
Elevation Change: climbs 100 feet above Redwood Creek 

Time of Year Best: year round, area is heavily shaded

Recommended Map: Mount Tamalpais/PT.Reyes -CA (National Geographic Maps: Trails Illustrated)

Muir Woods National Monument has several trails within the park.  Entrance fee is $7 per person.  Parking can be a nightmare.  Plan accordingly.  The trail is very easy.  The bottom portion of the trail that follows Redwood Creek is a boardwalk and stroller friendly.  The loop back to the parking lot climbs above the creek and is well used, but not stroller friendly.  There is a tour that begins every 30 minutes from the Muir Woods Visitor Center.  The trees are glorious.  There are much longer hikes in the area.  See this page for more hikes in the area.  Also, to plan your trip to Muir Woods, see my prep page.

Muir Woods Redwood

Muir Woods Posing

Muir Woods Main Trail Squeeze

Muir Woods Redwoods Up

Muir Woods Redwood Trunk

Book Review: The Puritan Dilemma - The Story of John Winthrop

Title: The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop (Library of American Biography)

Author: Edmund S. Morgan

Genre: US, English, and Religious History

John Winthrop was a Puritan.  A Puritan was a Calvinist.  A Calvinist is someone who sees God's hand in everything.  A Puritan did not call himself a Puritan.  A Puritan called himself a godly man striving to please the Lord in all aspects of life.  The Puritans of the early colonial Massachusetts Bay Colony segregated into two contemporary Christian denominations: the Presbyterians and the Congregationalists.

In 1629, John Winthrop found himself elected as the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on an expedition to the largely desolate New World.  Four ships landed near the Charles River in present day New England in April 1630.  Until his death in 1949, Winthrop served 12 annual terms as governor, and played a vital role in strengthening and building the New England colonies.  He proved himself a competent, intelligent, and persuasive leader who created peace among men with tendencies to disagree.  He paved the road to the representative form of democracy that the United States experiences today.

I highly recommend this book.  Subectively written, the author does an excellent job of understanding the mind of a Puritan and explaining their actions and decisions. The writing flows well and involves the reader. I found myself with an open map next to me looking up towns as I read.

Book Review: Failure of a Mission

Neville Henderson shaking hands with Joseph Goebbels

Title: Failure Of A Mission: Berlin, 1937-1939
Author: Sir Neville Henderson
Genre: World War II History

From the final chapter of the book, Sir Neville Henderson states: "In the early hours of September 1st without any declaration of war the German Army crossed the frontier, and the German Air Force proceeded to bomb the Polish airdromes and lines of communication...The German Representative in London was informed in due course at that hour that a state of war existed between Britain and Germany."

Henderson was England's Ambassador to Germany for the two years leading up to the war.  Tirelessly he worked to divert the aggression that Germany showed towards its neighbors.  He met often with Herr Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Goering and many other men of influence in the Third Reich.  Henderson respected the Germans, but hated their game. On most occasions, the Englishman was graciously treated, but the context of his meetings seemed to most often be smoke and mirrors. From the beginning, Hitler's intention was war.  There was nothing Neville Henderson could have done to stop the Nazi war machine.

The book on the whole is a bit dull.  The descriptions of the demeanor and personalities of the notorious German leaders is interesting.  It is a small look into Germany leading up to the war.  I would not recommend this book to anyone unless they are interested in Nazi, German, European, or World War II history.

Muir Woods National Monument: Planning Your Visit

Muir Woods National Monument Sign

 Muir Woods National Monument is nestled in the rolling hills just north of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco.  Due to the proximity to the big city, this stunning park rightfully attracts more then a million visitors per year.  The draw is the giant and ancient coast redwood.  There are several trails in the park.

With more than a million visitors to the Muir Woods National Monument, the park can have congestion and parking problems.  The park has a shuttle service that transports visitors to the park from Marin City and the Pohono Park and Ride.  The shuttle is seasonal.  The park has long had problems with big crowds and small parking lots.  If trying to park on the weekends, it is not unusual to park on the side of a two lane road a mile or more from the entrance.

The large crowds are drawn by the beautiful coast redwoods.  These giants can grow upwards of 300 feet and are the largest trees in the world.  The largest coast redwood was recently measured at 380 feet tall.  This ancient giant can live up to 2,000 years.  It is not unlikely that some of the older trees were living at the time of Christ.  A great book to read during your visit to the coast redwoods and Muir Woods is: The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring.

The trails of Muir Woods are the best way to see and enjoy the beauty and mystery of the trees.  There are six miles of trails in the park and several through trails that lead to the surrounding parks.  Here is a list of the trails in the park:

• Main Trail - (2 miles)
• The Ben Johnson Loop Trail - (5.2 miles)
• Dipsea and Steep Ravine Loop Trail - (3.9 miles)

The Main Trail - Muir Woods

If planning to visit Muir Woods National Monument, plan ahead.  Know the shuttle schedule.  Educate yourself about the trees. And arrange to enjoy the park from one of the trails. Muir Woods can greatly complement a visit to the San Francisco area.