Seals and castles and road trips, oh my!

I'm baaack! It was a fun, whirlwind weekend, and its taken a week to get back into the normal rhythm of things :) My dad and I ended up doing 4 cities in 4 days, clocking in about 1,000 miles of driving!

Here's a quick recap of our jam packed weekend!

We first stopped at Hearst Castle, a sprawling 250,000 acre state park in San Simeon. See it waaaaay on top of the hill (I had to use super zoom lens!)
William R. Hearst (an incredibly rich man) and Julia Morgan (an architect who was in my sorority!) built a house with 165 rooms, a zoo, airport, indoor and outdoor pool, and 127 acres of gardens.
The main house (above) and the neptune pool (below). I really wish I could have swam in it! Hmm, wonder what would have happened if I just "fell" in ;)
Its amazing what a lot of money and imagination can build, it was beautiful!

Since I love marine mammals, we drove a little further to Piedras Blancas to see elephant seals!

According to the docent, juvenile males are back to molt, fast, and practice "fighting." Luckily I was a safe distance away, or else I would have been smashed like a pancake. They really went at it!
Went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Why hello Mr. Sea turtle, having a nice snack??
I am now in love with weedy (or is it leafy) sea dragons! Who knew they looked so cool!
Saw more pinnipeds, those are sea lions, not logs!! Very smelly and noisy!
Plus we squeezed in some time in San Jose with my great aunt, and dinner in San Francisco with more relatives! (I took more photos of animals than people..oops!)

What a great weekend to cross things off my 101 list!
#3: Visit Hearst Castle
#1: Visit 3 aquariums (2 more to go!)
#8: Try 5 new restaurants (Cafe Yulong in Mountain View, haven't had Chinese in so long!)
#16: Read 50 new books (All the driving left me with plenty of time to read, I finished 206 Bones, by Kathy Riechs)

I'm so glad I was able to get away last weekend because all I'll be doing this weekend is studying! I have an exam coming up fast! Eeek!

Hope everyone has a safe and sparkly 4th of July tomorrow!