The Hearst Castle

Every morning is a new day. That has never been truer for me than on this trip. Today’s new experience or adventure was The Hearst Castle, built by the newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst. Wow, what a castle. I kept thinking to myself, “I had no idea anything like this existed in the United States.” It’s marvelous and said to be one of the most valuable estates in the world. The monthly electrical bill runs about $25,000 with thousands of visitors every week, if not every day, and costing millions of dollars to operate every year.

First off, I wanted to get one little rant out of the way. I’ve never been on a tour that’s so strict. Guided tourism is a bit of a turn off, you have a limited time to see this and that, and you can’t step off in the wrong direction, and you’re crowded with others. Especially as a photographer I would have liked to have more time taking photos. I’ve had a tourism class at MSU that has been e-mailing me questions as part of their class during the trip and they’ve been asking me about places like this, and guided tours versus touring on your own. There’s just a stark difference. But I understand why some people want to take it that way and why some places set it up only that way. I wonder how William Randolph Hearst would want it set up for people to come over?

Anyways… back to the goods. The film to start the tour was amazing. It talked about Hearst’s dream to build this castle. He had a vision and went for it. There were some quotes at the end of the movie that sadly I can’t remember and can’t find online. But, somehow I related to them in terms of this project and what it was like to get this off the ground. And in addition, this energy and drive I have to make something happen. As I’ve been going through this I’ve really been guiding myself to find what I want to do bigger, yes, much much bigger than this. There was something about the film that touched upon it all.

The Hearst Castle, it’s magical, it’s dreamlike and would be any persons fantasy to live that lifestyle and to jump into that beautiful oval pool. My hat is off to Mr. Hearst for seeing a dream, pursuing it, and making sure that it gets done to the best it can be. His story inspired me more so than the castle. Unlike a building, a story lasts forever, although it may change with the years.