Farewell California!

After a great day of relaxing (with a late start many of the students decided to take the chance to sleep in) & visiting college campuses (Berkeley & Stanford), & a great farewell dinner, we are now at San Francisco International Airport, checked-in & awaiting boarding for our flight. 

We are scheduled to land in Washington Dulles at 7:21am, so should be 'home' to VES by around 12:00pm.

Photos from today to follow...

Getting to Know San Francisco

Despite forecasts of rain & much colder weather today dawned bright & fairly warm too as we began a day of sightseeing in San Francisco, getting to know 'The City by the Bay'...

Big Sur & Monterey

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The California Coast

We departed our Anaheim hotel this morning at 8:00am - early but not early enough to beat the LA thanksgiving traffic so unfortunately we lost a lot of time.

We arrived late in Santa Barbara, with just enough time for lunch, then continued north.  Our drive took us both inland & along the Pacific Coast at times, with stunning scenery & ocean views.
Once back on track we stopped in the quaint town of Cambria for ice cream, then made our afternoon visit to Hearst Castle.

This incredible private home was built by the newspaper magnate W. R. Hearst in the 1920s & 30s.  We ride the bus through the estate, then toured the 'castle' before enjoying free time to explore & take in the incredible views & sunset.
We made a detour back to Cambria for a pizza dinner, then checked-in to our sea-front hotel in San Simeon.