PROGRAM REGISTRATION: After you have your room assignment, come over to the Road Scholar table to register with the program staff and pick up your arrival packet which we'll review during our orientation session before dinner.

ORIENTATION: Begins before dinner. We'll have an overview of the program ahead and review the up-to-date schedule, responsibilities, safety guidelines, emergency procedures, any other administrative issues, and answer your questions. Please be aware that local circumstances may require adjusting program elements. In the event of changes, we will notify you as quickly as possible. We appreciate your understanding.

Menus are contracted for the program and are designed to offer balanced, healthy meals for the participants.

Enjoy the remainder of the evening getting to know your fellow participants and discovering what you share beyond a love of lifelong learning.

This presentation offers insight into the native life of the Chumash Indians of California.

CLASS: Introduction to Channel Islands National Park and Boat Trip Orientation

What do we bring? What do we wear? What will we see on our Anacapa adventure? All of these questions will be answered during our powerpoint introduction to the Channel Islands National Park.

The Channel Islands National Park extends 1 mile around each island, protecting and supporting a multitude of marine organisms. The instructor, an expert scuba diver, shares her underwater experiences and knowledge about the marine environment through an entertaining powerpoint presentation.

Twelve miles from the mainland, a five-mile-long spine of rock emerges from the ocean, breaks into three islets, and offers itself as home to 265 species of plants and a bevy of seabirds - with the largest brown pelican rookery on the Pacific Coast. On charts, the island of 737 acres appears as East, Middle, and West Anapaca. The Chumash called it Anyapakh or "mirage". It was anything but a mirage on the night of December 2, 1853, when the sidewheel steamer Winfield Scott, running at full speed, crashed into rocks off Middle Anacapa and sank. The Coast Guard built a light beacon in 1912 and a light station in 1932.

The group will enjoy a guided nature walk on Anacapa Island.

Docent guided visit of the Santa Barbara Courthouse--the jewel in Santa Barbara's architectural crown. A bonus is the must-see view of the city from the top of the 85 foot clock tower.

This evening program is presented by The Friends of the Elephant Seal who support the seal rookery at Piedras Blancas. The site is located by California Highway 1 at the southern end of Big Sur on the California coast, just four miles north of the entrance to the Hearst Castle. The location is ideal for the seals. It is protected by the Piedras Blancas Point from storms from the northwest; it has wide, sandy beaches offering pups protection from high water; and it is protected from predators by a kelp forest.

Learn more about William Randolph Hearst in "Hearst Castle-Building the Dream," a 40 min, large format, National Geographic Movie at the Visitor Center.

The William Randolph Hearst exhibit located in the Visitor Center offers guests an insightful look into the Castle, its architect Julia Morgan, and its owner W.R. Hearst.

On the Grand Rooms Museum Tour travel back in time and experience what it was like to be a guest at The Enchanted Hill, known today as Hearst Castle, one of California's top attractions.

In Casa Grande, the main house, four rooms on the ground floor are shown starting with the Assembly Room, largest of the 14 sitting rooms and once the gathering place for Hearst's guests. Next, you will visit the Refectory, the only dining room on the Enchanted Hill, and then the Billiard Room, a game room featuring two 1920s era billiard tables and including the Gothic mille fleurs tapestry. The final stop is the Theater, the largest room in Casa Grande.

At the end of the guided portion of your tour, stroll on your own through the gardens and wander at your leisure around the Neptune Pool, a Greco-Roman style outdoor pool, and the Roman Pool, an indoor pool lined with blue Venetian glass and gold tiles.

The group will ride a bus from the Visitors Center to Hearst Castle, roundtrip.

FIELD TRIP TO PIEDRAS BLANCAS ELEPHANT SEAL COLONY

Visit Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Colony, the year round home of one of California's largest populations of elephant seals.

HOTEL CHECK OUT

The group departs Cambria via motorcoach for Ventura. Our program concludes when the bus returns to Ventura at approximately 11AM, depending upon traffic.