After our brief stay in Perry Mason's town, we were firmly on the Pacific Coast Hwy (Hwy 1) that would take us most of the way north (with 1 major detour to Death Valley). An early stop was going to be Santa Barbara but we weren’t going there for the surfing. Some years ago we had met Rami and his wife, Cindy, on an Antarctic exploration boat and we had stayed in touch ever since. Rami has been struggling with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) and we were concerned that he wouldn’t be up for a visit with two chronically homeless Canadians he met on a ship 5/6 years ago. As it turned out, he issued an enthusiastic invite to stop by for an Oceanside lunch at a nearby Santa Barbara restaurant.

Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) is an uncommon disorder (approximately 20,000 Americans) that affects movement, control of walking and balance, speech, swallowing, vision, mood and behavior, and thinking. The exact cause of PSP is unknown and there is currently no effective treatment. It’s a particularly insidious disorder and can be, unfortunately, more rapidly progressive than Parkinson’s (PSP is often misdiagnosed as Parkinson’s disease). I have to think that people with PSP feel enormously betrayed by their own body, but Rami, to his credit, continues the good fight. More detailed communication is now done via his iPad but the pride he felt for his daughters, and the joy of Santa Barbara living came through loud and clear. Fighters like Rami force you to keep the minor irritants of life (like the midnight door slammers that seem to follow us from hotel to hotel) in proper perspective. We did have a great lunch on a sunny California beach and Rami remains in our thoughts and prayers.

Further up the coast was the lasting symbol of a man who was blessed with incredibly good fortune but one who chose the squander much of that good fortune building a temple/castle for his own use. William R. Hearst was born in San Francisco, to a millionaire mining engineer, goldmine owner and U.S. senator- with his inheritance Hearst did acquire newspapers and created a chain that numbered nearly 30 papers in major American cities at its peak. He later expanded to magazines, creating the largest newspaper and magazine business in the world.

Beginning in 1919, he began to build Hearst Castle, which he was destined never to complete, on a 240,000 acres ranch at San Simeon, California, which he furnished with art, antiques and entire rooms brought from the great houses of Europe. Unlike most folks, Hearst did not purchase art and antiques to furnish his home as much as he built his home to get his bulging collection out of warehouses. He would actually buy complete, centuries-old European ceilings, which would then dictate the proportions and decor of various rooms. A cozy little retreat (90,000 square feet), Hearst Castle features 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, 19 sitting rooms, 127 acres of gardens, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, a movie theater, an airfield, and the world's largest private zoo. I’m not sure any home outside of a hospital or a really popular brothel really needs 56 bedrooms but this palatial homestead probably stands as testament to the idea that individual wealth should be capped or silly things will happen to money that might have done so much good otherwise.

DH enjoyed the castle tour and even picked up a number of yet-to-be priced decorating ideas just in case we ever find a home base. I’m never all that thrilled by the excesses of the rich and famous but our next stop, just down the road from the castle was a big, smelly, loud wow for me. In 1990, just under two dozen formerly endangered elephant seals were seen on the beach but now about 17,000 elephant seals call this home. DH is convinced I took photos of all of them.