Thanks for playing along with my guessing game! When I showed Don the photo I posted he figured it might be tricky since it did look like something from Caesar’s Palace. But we didn’t go to Vegas last weekend, instead we took a nice drive up North to visit Morro Bay and go to Hearst Castle. As was mentioned in one of the comments (Hi Betheny!), Don and I went there about 11 years ago. It was for our 6 month anniversary (How Newlywed of us! LOL!). It started with a drive that kept heading Northward. We’ve both been wanting to go back, and with our boys old enough to walk the whole time (so nice to not have to pack strollers), we took advantage of the longer weekend and invited Darren and Tiffany to come with us.

This time we took the night tour. They only do this a few months out of the year, and Don thought it would be nice to see it all lit up at night. As I mentioned before, he kept telling the boys it would be just like Hogwarts and it quickly became one of the many jokes of the weekend. (See that bird flying over there? It’s just like Hogwarts!) Poor Don! 😉

Before I share the winner of the Candy Cane hostess apron, I wanted to share some pictures from our nighttime tour of Hearst Castle. The tricky part is that flash photography is not allowed, and with it being at night it was hard to get enough light sometimes. Overall, I’m happy with many of the shots, so here we go!

I loved this statue. It was in one of the courtyards outside one of the guest houses. Makes me wonder why I haven’t been to a museum in so long, until I remember my dear little O who likes to go thru museum rooms at lightening speed.

What was fun about the night tour was that they focus more on the types of people who were guests there and the era of when Mr. Hearst lived there. In many of the guest rooms they would have clothes from that era spread over the luscious bedding. I thought this was a pretty shot.

I don’t remember which room this ceiling was from. I spent a lot of time telling the boys to look up so they wouldn’t miss the gorgeous ceilings. There was detail everywhere, with the ceilings being some of my favorites works of art.

We very happy to see that the Christmas decorations had already been put up. On the site, it mentioned that they sometimes didn’t get the castle decorated until the first of December, which kinda bummed Don out. So when we saw that they had already put up the decorations, it made it that much more of a magical experience. This is one of the two trees from the main entrance room (I think that’s right!). They had them on either side of the room, one for gifts for the boys and one for gifts for the girls. Mr. Hearst would put presents under them for the children who lived in the area and would host them once a year for a Christmas party.

There was a piano in the same room with this book opposite it. This book is huge!! We were told it was a book full of church hymns and the pages inside are leather. I was hoping our tour guide would open the book just so we could see the pages.

One of the many beautiful tapestries lining the walls throughout the castle. (Does anyone else get that scene from Last Crusade going thru their heads when you hear the word “tapestries”?)

Don said this was his favorite room. Both sides of the room were lined with flags. There were also some pretty niches were they had some more Christmas decorations that I missed because I was just loving the flags!

I loved the kitchen! It was so charming with fun details. Just look at these fixtures! Owen later said that the kitchen was his favorite room because he loved all the yummy food! LOL! They had fake food set up in the kitchen that did look good enough to eat. A delight to his eyes.

A shot inside one of the cupboards. I liked how they had the uniforms on display.

One of the many huge fireplaces. (I’m starting to feel like Mr. Collins. “I say staircases, because there are several” Help me, Pro!!)

Another guest room.

One of the super cool reasons to take the night tour is that you get to go into his office area. In this room he would have held meetings. It was a long room with those beautiful arches! On each arch were Bible stories that had been painted on them. Absolutely amazing!

We also got to go into the library which is up pretty high in the castle. Tons of books, beautiful rugs and furniture. Apparently a favorite room of Harpo Marx who would move furniture out of the way and do cartwheels across the length of the room. How hilarious is that!

Ceiling in the library.

Then you end your tour at the indoor pool. Simply beautiful with tile everywhere! Perrin said this was his favorite room because he thought an indoor pool was cool. Hehe!

I wish I took more pictures! There is so much to see that it can be a little overwhelming, but I hope we get a chance to go again! If you ever have the opportunity to go, make sure you take it!

And congratulations to Lorena Zapalac!! The random number generator spit out number two, and that’s you!! Be sure to send me an email by clicking on “contact me” so I can get the Candy Cane apron on it’s way to you!

Thanks for sticking with me thru this long post! 😀