Day Five - Could this be the end? [August 25, 2004]
Starting City: San Simeon, CA
Ending City: Van Nuys (LA Metro), CA
Total Miles: 230 (approx)

Day five also had a good beginning with our tour at the Hearst Castle. The $24.00/person one-and-half-hour "Experience Tour" gave us a quick understadning of this truely extraordinary and ridiculously lavish edifice. If you're going to be touring central California, seeing the Hearst Castle is a must-see adventure. We would have easily paid double the price, if only they covered the entire castle.

We started driving again around noon and passed several pretty towns including San Luis Obispo, Pismo Beach and Santa Barbara. I almost gave into the idea of adding my own memento onto the Bubblegum Alley in San Luis Obispo but withdrew the plan because of Maanasa's threat to divorce me the day after our wedding anniversary :)
We also stopped at the Madonna Inn (no tours here!) where each of the 108-rooms is uniquely decorated with a special theme and color scheme. Jokes aside, I made up my mind that day we would one day settle down in Santa Barbara (or atleast San Luis Obispo). Both these medium-sized towns are extremely beautiful, nothing compared to where we lived or visited so far.



Drove another 100 miles or so, partly on 101 and partly on Hwy 1 to reach LA around 9pm

Lodging: El Cortez Motel, Van Nuys, CA
Cost of lodging: 110$


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