San Simeon / Cambria, California

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September 14 - 16, 2007

Went went to San Simeon and Cambria for our 1 year wedding anniversary. It is on the central coast of California and about a 3.5 hour drive from where we live. It is a beautiful drive!

We arrived Friday late afternoon and checked into our room at the Best Western Cavalier Inn right on the ocean in San Simeon. The gentleman at the front desk sent a bottle of champagne to our room and also recommended dinner at the infamous Sow's Ear. Our room was amazing! It had a fireplace and a balcony that looked out over the water. We cracked open the champagne and hung out for a bit before driving down into Cambria for dinner.

The Sow's Ear is known for its comfort food and so I was a little unsure about it, but was pleasantly surprised as our food arrived. Our appetizer was brie and wine stuffed mushrooms followed by our main course which for me was a piece of chicken stuffed with cheese, kalamata olives, red peppers and garlic. We also got a slice of mud pie for dessert which was so tasty!

The following morning we left early to catch our 9am tour up at Hearst Castle. This place is so incredibly tucked back in the hill you feel like your tour bus, that is driving on a little one lane road up the curvy mountain, is going to fall off in the process of getting up to it. It's a beautiful view, but not a ride for the weak stomached (I know that isn't a word, but oh well).

The tour of the castle was great - even though they herd you through like sheep. They give you no freedom to do anything on your own (as we could in Europe) and they even give dirty looks to crying children and illegal gum chewers. The views were magnificent and some of the items that Hearst had shipped to the castle from Europe were amazing.

After the tour we decided on lunch in Cambria at Moon Stone Cafe (I think that's what it's called). I had a turkey sandwich with goat cheese and some other items that I can't remember. We then took a shortcut that ended up taking us over an hour through a 1 lane (almost) dirt road until we ended up on the 46 in Paso Robles. There were wine tasted at 5 different wineries and bought plenty of wine to last us a lifetime. I liked Midnight Cellars and Moonstone Cellars the best.

After that we headed back into Cambria and stopped at an open-air market and also walked through the town. We purchased more wine, some taffy and some candles.

That night we had dinner at the Black Cat in Cambria. It's an American-French bistro. I had an eggplant and cheese dish with some wine and a chocolate soufflé. Yum!

That night we sat and watched the waves on our balcony and all of the people down at the firepits. What a wonderful getaway! I would go back in a heartbeat!

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