We rented a
2003 Dodge Caravan that sat 6 people! |
It was
rather cool to drive it. First time driving a big vehicle... and I drove
with Edric to pick up Bao Lei around 5am... |
There it
was, a brand new caravan and we were at the Pines to pick up the rest of the
people |
The rear
passenger seats |
And I
continued to drive all the way down to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, about one
hour's drive from San Jose. |
It was real
early and they were not opened yet... |
Never mind
all the other fun attractions, we were there for the beach only |
We were the
early birds there |
At the
entrance |
One more
poser shot |
Colin |
Breakfast!
Food and drinks prepared by the Olivia, Eugenia, Colin... |
Rather cold
and breezy and there were many garbage bins on the beach and the sand was
clean |
A shot without the bins |
Volleyball! |
A jetty in
the background |
A number of
beach volleyball courts |
Bao Lei -
Picture time... and we got a new nickname for him. The Bird... haha |
Group shot
- Colin, Olivia, Me, Edric, Eugenia, Bao Lei |
Whose feet
were those? |
Edric in
funky beach shirt and sunglasses and myself |
Whose hands
huh? |
The
'Wicked' Colin |
Okay, these
guys were preparing for a beach volleyball tournament, let's get our butts
out of the courts |
Olivia |
Getting
more sunny now |
Me |
Edric |
Back to our
car after exploring the jetty for a while. Bao Lei at the wheel, and Edric
as navigator |
Eugenia's
sitting beside me |
Olivia and her pillow and
Rubic cube. Spent all the time in the car trying to figure out how to solve
it... forget it lah, haha |
Colin, also
brought a pillow... really know how to enjoy life ah |
Stopped at a coastal point on
our way to Hearst Castle |
Dun think
it was hot and sunny, in fact it was quite cold! |
Edric and he droved the
remaining of the journey to Hearst Castle |
Some cacti
we saw on the roads |
Another
stopover at a nice coastal point |
Colin and
Edric |
Colin and
me |
Greenish-blue waters |
Group shot!
Edric, Eugenia, Bao Lei, me... Colin and Olivia in the front |
Another
stop again! No wonder we reached Hearst Castle late.... =P |
A whole
bunch of seals |
Were they
sunbathing??? |
It was a
molting season for them, time to shed old skin and grow new ones |
A squirrel
looking for food |
At last at the Hearst Castle
office! Time to grab tickets and we got the last tickets! |
On a coach
up to the castle |
There it
was in the far distance |
Our tour
guide who led us on an overview of the castle and we were on Tour 1, the
basic tour |
Every
structure in the castle was beautiful... |
A nice view
from the balcony |
You could see the
the sea from here too |
A Nike
goddess was the goddess of victory who recorded victories on her shield and
that was where the sports brand Nike came from |
|
A beautiful outdoor pool |
Statue of
Venus and some merman |
Our tour
group heading up the stairs |
Imagine how
nice it would be to swim in it... |
Edric |
Me |
Some statue |
The door of
an entrance to guest rooms |
Every room
was different... |
 |
 |
Really tall
trees |
Overlooking
the sea |
An Egyptian
statue |
|
The
magnificent church |
The church
base |
The upper
part of it |
A pool in
front of the church |
Oranges
seem to grow well here |
Inside the
church |
With
beautiful paintings |
We were not
allow to take photos with flash inside and so all our photos were non-flash
|
The dining
room |
The ceiling
of the dining room |
A lighted
statue in the movie theater |
Tennis
courts with a view of the mountains |
An indoor
pool, looked rather deep |
Really
exquisite |
The floor
tiles were gold |
The
platform above was where swimmers could leap off to dive into the pool |
After a movie that showed us
the history of Hearst Castle, we drove to a coastal point to see the sunset |
Setting
soon |
Bao Lei
having some cake by Olivia |
Guess who's
the person? Edric... |
Me |
Our caravan
again and a 3 to 4 hours drive back home for us as the sky turned dark.... |
|
