Imagination is the Beginning of Creation
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. – St. Augustine
Finally it’s cooling down a bit in Southern California. Those 95+ degree days have been quite something. We are quite close to the coast, so usually get the cool sea breezes, but this summer was unrelentingly warm. The hot unbearable days seemed to go on forever. Hooray for fall!
Anyway, the family finally managed to take a break and do a road trip to Carmel to attend a friend’s wedding. Always a good excuse to have some fun. We decided to take a few days to drive there, and then a few days back.
Our first stop was at Pismo Beach, a very quaint little seaside town. Having got some recommendations, we stayed at the Sea Venture Beach Hotel. Our room was an awesome suite, with a Jacuzzi on our balcony, right on the beach. After oysters and Champaign on the deck, with a stunning sunset, all our challenges and daily grinds just disappeared and life was perfect again. There is something magical about getting out of town and hitting the open road that just puts life in the right golden perspective.
The next day we headed to Hearst Castle. Having been there 12 years earlier, it was easy to see all the improvements made to the Visitors’ Center: Shops, food court and even a movie theater, very impressive. Taya, our daughter, had no expectation of what to expect. Having been to Europe, her idea of a castle was totally different. On the long windy road up the hill to the estate/castle I could see she was impressed.
Since California State Parks took over the running of Heart castle in the 1950s, 47 million people have taken the tour to see the vision of what Hearst created, pretty much out in the wilderness. A 165 bedroom “ranch” filled with artwork from all over the globe on a 270 000 acre spread. This was just one of over 30 homes William Randolph Hearst owned at the height of his influence.
Today, we have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Radio, TV, and over 100 other ways to get our daily doses of news and gossip. Back in his day, 1 in 4 people got their news from one of over 30 newspapers that Hearst Corporation owned. Newspapers were the mouthpiece of the world.
Hearst had a very colorful life. He made and lost fortunes. He had the largest private art collection in the world. He wined and dined Royalty, the rich and famous Hollywood jet-setters, and politicians alike. He controlled information and that meant he had the ultimate power.
What hit me, walking through the halls, gardens and guest houses of Hearst Castle, was his IMAGINATION! As George Bernard Shaw once said, “Imagination is the beginning of creation.” We all have it in us to believe in something bigger than who or where we are. If you ask people to write down what they think their future will hold, the vast majority, over 80%, will say their future will be better than their past. Hearst imagined and built an empire from one magazine to 30; he imagined a ranch on top of a hill and built his castle. Even after 27 years of construction, he never completed his dream. He was always imagining more.
What’s going to make your future better? Yes, imagination will give you the ideas, the vision, and the spark. But then the hard work has to begin and you have to put ideas into action and make it happen. Imagination is the soil that brings dreams to life. And so it began for us in 2002. We imagined a magazine that was a household name in America, TheHomeMag. Today we have 46 locations, print 87 million magazines a year and yes, we are now the #1 Home improvement magazine in the USA. It started with imagination, a vision and an idea. It’s taken many a sleepless night, many all-nighters and some all weekenders, but it’s changed my life. The life lessons, the growing, the learning, the people, and most certainly the journey has been incredible.
Leaving Hearst castle, I was inspired by his imagination to think big and make big things happen. The drive along the Big Sur coastline was breathtaking. Carmel, the 17 Mile Drive, Pebble Beach and Monterey are all stunning. We live in an amazingly beautiful state. Go take your road trip and let your imagination soar to another level. ‘Til next month, have a fun Halloween and an awesome Thanksgiving!
-Ralph