Santa Barbara
Tuesday, September 27
Sharon with Erin Sommerville, our oncology coach
(at La Casa de Maria, where the Simonton Cancer
Center program is held)
Karen Simonton, Sharon, Erin
Here we are again
The Simonton Cancer Center is running a program this week. It is the same week that Jenny and I were there last year. Erin is one of the facilitators as she was for our program. She also was our oncology coach from December to July and I am so grateful for the help she gave to us
Karen Simonton is the Executive Director, and she came to Santa Barbara yesterday to see me - how nice of her. So after all the greetings, Karen, Dana and I went to lunch, then Karen took us to the Santa Barbara Mission, which was built in the late 1700s.
It was a really interesting afternoon. And Karen got a candle for me to light for Jenny.
The parish chapel at the mission
An Australian fig tree at the mission in the
cemetery where there were several
above ground cement tombs
Some 'really old music'
My new vocation
After we left the mission we went for dinner at Moby Dick, the same restaurant we went to last year when we were there. I wondered how it would be, but it was fine - in terms of nastalgia.
Then we went back to La Casa de Maria. I was in the cafeteria talking to Erin and the other facilitator, Patricia, when Karen came in and talked to Erin. Then they asked me if Dana and I would like to participate in the Power of Play part of the patient program, which was just about to start. This is facilitated by someone else, other than the Erin and Patricia.
Well, the bottom line is that I asked Dana, she said OK having no idea of what it was about, and Karen asked the program participants if it would be OK with them. It was.
The Power of Play is all about the how fun, laughter etc affects your health. You let down your guards and do some really fun and sometimes silly things. Jenny and I absolutley loved this last year.
So there I was back in the same room where we spent a week last year, taking part in the Power of Play which Jenny and I loved and had so much fun with. I could not believe this was happening. But I am so grateful that it did. It is very difficult for me to express the feelings I had being there, and with Karen and Erin, and participating in the Power of Play. All of it felt so comfortable, safe and good. I am so lucky to have had this experience, and it will all be an important part of my process.
Dana and I presenting our 'invention'
Wednesday, September 27
We arrived at Hearst Castle at about 1:30 today. We had originally thought we would go there tomorrow, but since we got there early we went ahead on the tour. It was very foggy at the entrance level (Hwy 1), which is right across from the ocean. You have to leave your car at the visitor center, and board a bus to take you the 5 miles to the top of the mountain. Lo and behold, it was clear and sunny up there.
Dana has wanted to go to the Hearst Castle since she was in her 20s (abou 10 years? - ahem). She kept saying, "I can't believe I'm here". Anyway, we really enjoyed the tour. I have been there before but I really like it each time.
When we went back down, it was still foggy. We had some dinner nearby then drove 3 miles down the road and found one of the only vacant rooms in the area. We seem to have a talent for trying to find a room when there is an event. At the Best Western at San Simeone there was a Corvette club, and I guess September is a popular time for 'kidless' people to travel.
One of several rooms where cocktails were served
before dinner, which was at 9 PM!
The dining room. William Randolph Hearst
would sit in the middle, and new guests next to him. As
guests would arrive, you would move down the
table. When you got near to the end, you
knew it was time to leave.
Another view of the dining room
Guests would wait in this rom for the movie to start.
The photo did not turn out, but there is a full
movie theatre in the castle.
Billiards room
Dana with the Neptune pool in the background
One of the guest houses
Indoor pool
The road down is unbelievabe. I prefer not to look.
Dana says what happens when the driver has a heart attack.
Always the nurse, she said she thought she would look
for the defibrillator. I suggested we would be better
served by a parachute - attached to the top of the bus.
Tomorrow, we will head for San Francisco, then to the Napa Valley, probably on Friday.
About William, Randolph Hearst, from Wikopedia:
William Randolph Hearst (
/ˈhərst/; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher.[1] Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father. Moving to New York City, he acquired The New York Journal and engaged in a bitter circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer's New York World which led to the creation of yellow journalism—sensationalized stories of dubious veracity. Acquiring more newspapers, Hearst 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.He was twice elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives, but ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of New York City in 1905 and 1909, for Governor of New York in 1906, and for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1910. Nonetheless, through his newspapers and magazines, he exercised enormous political influence, and is sometimes credited with pushing public opinion in the United States into a war with Spain in 1898.
His life story was a source of inspiration for the development of the lead character in Orson Welles' classic film Citizen Kane.[2] His mansion, Hearst Castle, near San Simeon, California, on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, was donated by the Hearst Corporation to the state of California in 1957, and is now a State Historical Monument and a National Historic Landmark, open for public tours. Hearst formally named the estate La Cuesta Encantada ("The Enchanted Slope"), but he usually just called it "the ranch".
