Day 1

We planned to leave at 9 Sunday, pushed it back to 10, finally left at 12. We drove one billion miles and got to San Simeon State Park at 7:00 pm. A crazy guy tried to get into our motorhome around 5:00 in the morning, so, we were up early! We planned to get to the first tour at Hearst castle at 8:30, so we figured three and a half hours was enough time. How wrong we were. Went for a walk on the beach at San Simeon and saw an otter and an "eagle" (according to Neil - I think it was a seagull). We finally rolled up to Hearst Castle for the 11:00 tour. Apparently it now takes us a minimum of four hours to go anywhere and we are incapable of remembering what baby items we will need. Today, we forgot the pacifier.

We started our tour with Mr. I-Know-More-About-Hearst-Castle-Than-Anyone-Else. He rambled endlessly and Violet didn't appreciate his meaningless chatter and decided to liven things up with some banshee wailing. Ever been "removed" by security from Hearst Castle? Twice? I have. The first time, her wailing was briefly interrupted with a visit to the "child room" a.k.a. prison chamber for irresponsible parents. I fed her and hung out for a while, and was then allowed to re-join Neil and Hayden in the giant congregation room. I met up with them, she puked all over me, and then started her screaming again, but with even more gusto than before. There is something strangely awe inspring about echoing baby shrieks in a massive congregation room as 70 people stand prefectly still and silent listening to the tour guide's monotonous drivel. This time, I was escorted to a bench outside, where we waited until the tour was basically over.