Spring Break 2013 Day 4, Part 2

We spent the evening at William Randolph Hearst's "castle" in San Simeon. Wow, that place is amazing. I didn't even know about it until our trip. It is seriously like a castle right out of Europe.  I especially loved the outdoor pool. Doesn't it make you want to jump in and swim?

 The "castle" itself looks like a church. I really think that he could have come up with something better.

 The indoor swimming pool.

 It's a little dark but this is a diving tower. So cool! I totally want to jump off it.

 The dining hall. Now that could hold a family celebration.

 We got to watch a short clip in his theater room. I mean, who actually had those back int he 20's, 30's?

Spring Break 2013 Day 4; part 1

The reason we stayed at Pismo Beach was because Marshall wanted to rent 4 wheelers and ride on the sand dunes. They have a whole area preserved that is nothing but sand dunes as far as you can see. Scott and Amy got stuck a couple of times, and Marshall went on some areas that the rest of us thought were too dangerous. He loved every minute it.

 After 4 wheeling we went out to another nature preserve for a short hike to the ocean. It was super windy and not that great, but you might as well do it and find out for yourself.

 This area is where they filmed The Ten Commandments, because there is nothing but sand.

Spring Break 2013 Day 3

Our next stop along the PCH was Pismo Beach. The city itself seemed kind of rough but they had a great beach.

 Lots of surfers out. Samantha and Marshall were dying to get in but we decided to wait until we go to San Diego in the summer for Marshall's Niece's wedding.

 Scott and I got a kick out of watching this little guy eating fish. He was right in there with the surfers and just kept diving down and bringing up more fish to eat while they did their thing. I guess the ocean is big enough to share.

 Scott really liked picking up sea shells here.

 The fog moves in very fast and gives everything an eerie feeling

 Marshall kept calling these the white cliffs of Dover.

 Amy and Samantha were seeing how far they could get stuck in the sand. The funny part was when Amy felt a crab crawl across her foot and jumped 10 feet in the air. Wish I could have gotten a picture of that.

 Pismo Beach used to be known for clamming and there are a few markers around the town.

  We finished off with a swim at our hotel that had super warm water and the hot tub had 2 waterfalls falling into it. A beautiful sunset to end the day. Perfect!!

Spring Break Day 2

 After we left Malibu we drove to Santa Barbara. We started with the Santa Barbara mission. It was very cool to see. They were doing some work on the chapel so I didn't get any pics of the alter.

 all dressed up for Easter.

 If you ever read "Island of the Blue Dolphins" then you'll know about this. The book was based on an actual woman who was left on the island and survived there for 18 years before being rescued. Unfortunately she died a couple of weeks after that due to not having an immunization built up for  foreign diseases. She was buried at the Santa Barbara mission. I read that book in 4th grade and have always loved it.

 my pious family, kneeling in church.

 We drove by an LDS chapel just down the street from the Mission and had to get a picture.

 The back of the court house in Santa Barbara. We are huge fans of Psych and we were so excited to see this. They film the show in Vancouver, but they show aerial views of Santa Barbara and they always show the court house.

 My kids have never seen a phone booth. In fact, Scott couldn't figure out how it was supposed to work.

 In front of the court house.

 Just how it looks in Psych. We googled to see where we could get JapaDogs, but apparently they are a Vancouver thing.

 This was my favorite thing we did during the whole trip. We rented this "bike" that seats 6 and has peddles for 4. We biked up and down the boardwalk and it was so much fun. We laughed the whole time.

 A view from the pier.

 We had lunch on the pier and went for fried seafood. We didn't realize how much food came on one plate so Samantha and Amy got one to share and Marshall and I got one. It was enough food for 4 on one plate. Scott actually tried the baby octopus and the calamari and liked both.

 It was a little windy on the pier,

 but it was still beautiful.