Graduation Trip to Alaska: On the Way-June 21 to 24, 2022 |

After the partying was over and we had a day or two to get things together, we began our graduation trip with Rebekah and Kyle driving up the coast of California with stops along the way to our eventual destination of Seattle and a cruise ship to Alaska. The first stop was in San Simeon to see the summer home of William Randolph Hearst the media mogul. Years ago, when we had the whole family in North Carolina, we took them all to see the Biltmore home in Asheville and we knew the kids would find this just as spectacular. At its peak, the campus was 250,000 acres with its own private zoo. Hearst did a great deal of entertaining here and often had movie stars and politicians of all stripes as guests.

The houses and all the surrounding designs were the joint ideas of Hearst and the first woman architect of renown from San Francisco, Julia Morgan. She was one of the most prolific and important woman architects ever to work in the United States. It’s estimated by some, that it would cost Five Billion dollars to duplicate the property in modern times, and that is before the current supply chain issues and costs.

The opulence is staggering.

One of two guest houses on the property in addition to the main house.

**Neptune Pool** – This is the outdoor pool. There’s another pool indoors.

**Where cocktails were served before dinner**

Billards Room: Unlike the custom of that time, after dinner the men didn’t retreat for cigars and brandy while the ladies went into a separate room for coffee. At Hearst Castle, everyone moved into the Billards Room together and continued the conversation and fun for the evening.

Indoor Pool- that shiny yellow stuff is actually 24 kt gold in the tile. (Hint: the ceiling is reflected in the water if you are having trouble with the picture.)

The ceiling in Hearst’s Bedroom was imported, like many others in the house, from Europe and had to be modified to fit the room.

I really need to get taller shoes or shorter family!

The next day we stopped in San Francisco to take a boat trip under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz Island. Very windy and slightly chilly while much of the country was having a heat wave.

**Boat tour of Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatrez**

Some of the guards had their entire family living on the island with them and the kids had to take a ferry across the bay to go to school. We ended our San Francisco adventure with lunch at the Wharf at a place that makes their own bread bowls and clam chowder. They even take the bread making one step farther by making bread in different shapes including teddy bears, alligators, and crabs.

Leaving San Francisco, we headed to Oregon and the Avenue of Giants.

Hard to believe trees can grow this big and live this long.

Our final stop before getting on the cruise ship was Seattle and the famous Space Needle built for the 1962 World’s Fair whose theme was “The Age of Space”. Built with a futuristic design, it was recently upgraded to include a rotating restaurant and a second glass floor observation deck. The tower provides a 360-degree view of area including Mount Ranier in the background.

The cruise ships you see in the picture are at the pier where we boarded our cruise.

Right next to the needle was the Chihuly Garden and Glass Gallery featuring the glass art of Dale Chihuly which exceeded our expectations. Every time we turned a corner into a new room we were blown away by the spectacular artistry of the glass. Remember, pictures never capture the total impressiveness of the reality.