Over labor day weekend, we went out for 2 days. We flew to Oceano down the coast for ATV riding and camping close to the beach, and the next day we flew to Paso Robles for museum/wine tasting and visiting Hearst Castle before flying back that evening. It was a great trip

nice shot of Santa Cruz



the great coastal drive on hwy 1


Hearst Castle's Private Runway we weren't allowed to use




All the beach campers for labor day weekend

Oceano Airport. The runway is shorter than it seems

Eventually we got to Oceano, and setup our tent before going to a rental shop to get a couple of ATVs and go play on the dunes (Oceano has the biggest dune area in California):



basic camping site, but good enough for us





oh noes, I got stuck at the top of the hill


at least it's a good place to use your truck


trying to go up the hill again, not going to make it


plenty of california I'll keep my guns rednecks having fun :)



WTF happened here?
The next morning, we got up not too late, packed up, and flew off to Paso Robles. On the way there, I got a few more shots of the beach and the dunes:



Paso Robles Airport

Oh they have a small museum, sweet
Since I saw that there was a small museum at Paso Robles, I went to check it out while Jennifer went to a winery.
I have a separate page on Estrella Warbird Museum, as well as the Private Car Collection at Estrella Warbird Museum.


After the museum/winery, we drove to Hearst Castle (unfortunately a 1h drive, which sucks considering they have an airport, but it's private and they do not allow visitors to use it). Despite the time spent driving, Hearst Castle was great. We got their 3 guided tours and got to see virtually everything. It's a fantastic place well worth the tours:

visitor center

you take their busses to the top





Our first tour start with the cave and kitchen. Both well furnished:



chateau cheval blanc

chatteau laffitte

curacao triple sec

Vermouth Noilly Prat de Marseille
Rest of the tours:




Hearst got a lot of fancy ceilings for his many rooms











Tapisserie de Bayeux on the lamps, nice






The swimming pools are fantastic:








After all the fun at Hearst Castle, we drove back to Paso Robles to fly back to Palo Alto:


177kt, sweet!

