Since we were in New Orleans for linuxcon 2013, Jennifer and I went to visit the town after the conference.

On our first day out after, we went to the Audubon Zoo:

nice nails

We then spent the rest of the afternoon looking at houses in the Garden District, where we went via street car:

And we finished with one of several restaurant dinners with foie gras :)

The next day, we went through the French Quarter:

We checked out the museums on the main plaza, worth some time: Katrina, History of New Orleans and Slavery, Jazz History, Mardi Gras,

Jennifer's ankle was getting a bit tired, so we got a bike taxi to go through the French Quarter streets:

The last and next day, it was pouring rain, but we used the time to go to the Insectarium and the Aquarium, both were actually pretty good and worth the time:

This one really looks like a leaf

Then, we went to the Aquarium:

The aquarium also had a bunch of parakeets. Totally unrelated, but quite fun :)

And we just had enough time to go to the airport and fly home after that.

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!