San Diego Trip - Missions - Day 8

Friday, November 13, 2009

Today we drove up into the hills northeast of San Diego to visit Mission San Antonio de Pala.  This tiny mission was an Asistencia or “Helper” mission for the much larger mission of San Luis Rey in Oceanside, where we were to go next.  The mission, located on an Indian reservation is filled with primitive art and painted wall decorations, a simple and peaceful place.  The altar area has a wooden rail, but access to the altar is unrestricted.  The mission has a small museum and gift shop and a lovely small courtyard garden with native California plants and one fountain in the center.

The small 2-bell campanaria is not attached to the mission buildings, but stands as a separate structure nearby.  The stairway to the top of the tower is gated but not locked.  A local public charter school is located in the buildings behind the mission; school was in session when we visited.  All in all, a happy place where everyone seemed content.

Day 8 Pictures - San Antonio de Pala Mission Asistencia (Mission San Antonio de Pala)

We drove next to Oceanside, CA to Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, named for King Louis IX of France, the Crusader King.  This is listed as the largest of all the mission churches, seating over 1000 people.  Cruciform in shape, it has a blue domed bell tower on the front right of the building and is a combination of Spanish, Mexican and Moorish architecture.  It is built of adobe, painted white with dark red tiles for decoration.  The church interior has many vaults and arches, lovely painted wall decorations and extensive statuary and religious paintings.

A monastery for Franciscan friars is attached to the mission; we were told by the docent that the monastery had 3 current residents.  We met one of them, just coming back from a bicycle ride complete with aerodynamic helmet, biking shoes and spandex outfit.  It was a little disconcerting for Judy, as she had expected the friars to be pacing in the garden in long brown robes with ropes for belts, reading their breviaries, Gregorian chant in the background.  Oh well, times have changed.

There is an adjacent parish church and school nearby.  The quadrangle garden (Sacred Garden), was not open to walk through because of the resident friars.  We could look into the garden; there were many roses, cacti, palms, bougainvilla vines and America’s oldest pepper tree, brought from Peru in 1830.

Day 8 Pictures - San Luis Rey Mission (Mission San Luis Rey de Francia)

We then drove to the last mission of the day, Mission San Diego de Alcala, in San Diego, CA, which was a short distance from Admiral Baker campground where we were staying.  This mission was founded in 1769 by Fr. Serra and moved to its present site in 1774 to be nearer the Indians, a reliable water source and good farming land.  The mission was attacked and burned by the Indians in 1775; Fr. Luis Jayme was killed in the attack, becoming the first Christian martyr in the new world.  This was the only mission in the California system to be attacked by Indians.

The mission was rebuilt in 1776 in an inner courtyard style with surrounding walls using adobe bricks and tiles.  The church is lovely, medium-sized with primitive decorations, paintings and statuary.  There is a simple but beautiful reredos behind the altar.  The garden has many cacti, bougainvilla, bromeliads, etc growing in ordered, raised flowerbeds.  The campanaria has 5 bells and is attached to the front of the mission.  The church is a working Catholic parish – a beautiful place.  When we came out of the mission, there was another lime green VW bug parked next to the Green Machine in the lot – quite a coincidence.

Day 8 Pictures - San Diego Mission (Mission San Diego de Alcala)

We drove back to Admiral Baker campground and got ready to welcome company the next day.

San Diego Trip - Missions - Day 7

Thursday, November 12, 2009

We drove inland through part of the coastal range to San Fernando, CA valley to tour Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana, which was named for King Ferdinand III of Spain and founded in 1797.  Located in an upscale residential neighborhood, this facility is a working Catholic Church as well as a center for the local archdiocese.  There are extensive, beautifully manicured gardens with many fountains and water features, courtyards and a museum with rooms full of historical exhibits – all in pristine condition.  To us, this mission seemed to be sort of a “Hollywoodized” version of a mission restoration; it is the closest mission to Hollywood.

In fact, Bob Hope is buried here, in his own memorial site in the gardens, with a space saved for Delores when her time comes.  They must have given a lot of money to the archdiocese.  The church itself is stunning, with a dramatic gilded reredos filled with statuary on the wall behind the altar.  In the museum, a special room is set aside for hundreds of Madonna statues from a private collection, with “Ave Maria” coming on over the sound system as you enter the room and turning off when you leave – a little spooky.  We were the only visitors in the whole facility at the time.

Day 7 Pictures (Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana)

We drove to San Gabriel, CA to visit Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, located in the old section of the town.  We had to park on the street behind the mission, always a concern with our length and inability to back up without unhitching.  There was enough space, though, so it worked out fine.

There was a group of 4^th graders in school uniforms just leaving the mission as we got there.  (In the California education system, the 4^th graders all have a study unit on the history of the missions.  Adrienne will work on this sometime next spring.)  This mission was very large, with a Catholic school behind it.  The campanaria (bell tower) was the most impressive one we have seen yet: it contains 6 bells, 2 of which are over 200 years old, having been brought around Cape Horn on a schooner in 1791.  The church was beautifully restored in the primitive style, which is what it must have looked like in the mission era.  The reredos behind the altar was blue with 6 statues. There were extensive cactus gardens in the courtyard behind the church, along with many displays of historical artifacts.  Around the cemetery (mostly for priests), the Stations of the Cross were set into niches in the walls and huge old grapevines overarched the paths.

Day 7 Pictures San Gabriel Mission (Mission San Gabriel Archangel)

We had Mexican take-out food for lunch from Las Lunas restaurant cattycorner from the mission school.  This old part of San Gabriel is called the Mission District, a restored area with walking tours of the old streets and buildings.  There were many houses and museums to visit there, but our time schedule this day did not permit that.  Maybe next time.  While Pat negotiated the scary freeways of the LA area, I fed him his lunch.  With Mexican food, this can be a messy process, but fortunately, he was able to multitask.  The food was delicious.

We drove towards the coast to Mission San Juan Capistrano in the town of the same name.  The mission is located about a mile from the ocean and is surrounded by the city in a commercial district.  We had to park on the street again, but luckily there was room for both vehicles.

The mission facility is very large and complex; the mission has been restored many times after several earthquakes in the last 200 years.  Next to the mission stands a very imposing ruin of the old stone (not adobe) church built in 1771 in the shape of a cross with a barrel vault over the altar.  This church was destroyed in an earthquake on December 8, 1812, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, killing 42 Indians.  Four mission bells are now hanging in niches in a wall adjoining the ruins.

Fr. Junipero Serra’s chapel is present on the grounds, very beautiful with an ornate reredos on the wall behind the altar.  It was built in 1777, making it the oldest surviving original church where Fr. Serra actually said Mass.  In the museum, there were many rooms full of historical artifacts. There were extensive courtyards, rose gardens and fountains with koi and goldfish, as well as “industrial” areas off to the side where there were demonstrations of adobe brick making, water systems and vegetable and herb gardening.  The actual condition, use of and treatment of the Indians in the 17- and 1800’s is not stressed here. 

The mission complex is a lovely setting with a huge gift shop.  We bought a small cross there, then on our way back to the RV, we purchased a small display of crosses mounted on a background, as well as actually meeting James, the artist who had made the display.

Day 7 Pictures - San Juan Capistrano Mission (Mission San Juan Capistrano)

We then drove to Admiral Baker Field Campground, a naval facility in the San Diego area.  This campground is a real find.  It lies in a canyon with a creek running through it, lots of trees, clean bathrooms and laundromat, extensive sheltered picnic areas with barbeque pits, close to shopping, restaurants, the San Diego mission, the football stadium, and as luck would have it, a branch of Kaiser Hospital.  It is not a gated facility, but only military and retired military are allowed to camp there.  Non-military groups can rent the picnic areas for day use on a first-come, first-serve basis.

San Diego Trip - Missions - Day 6

(Wednesday, November 11, 2009)

We left Vandenberg early and drove through Lompoc to Mission La Purissima Concepcion, generally called La Purissima.  This mission was founded in 1787 in a beautiful natural setting – a quiet wooded canyon set in the coastal hills.  The facility is a California State Historic Park and not a working Catholic Church.  Since we were there last (15 years ago with Ted and Ann), a new visitor’s center has been built on the grounds which focuses on the plight of the local Indians, who were caught between the Spanish padres and the soldiers.

Day 6 Pictures - Mission La Purissima Concepcion

This is the largest mission we have seen yet. It consists mainly of two churches, one older and larger with a packed dirt floor, abandoned because of water problems, and a newer smaller church with a wood plank floor.  The newer building has many beautiful primitive paintings, all fully restored.  The large courtyard is full of California native plants and trees and many fountains, along with an extensive water system which was set up for the mission when it was founded.  There were live farm animals pastured in the mission complex, the only time we saw this on our mission tour. (Most of the missions do not have enough room to do this).  There was also an Indian village site with a restored hogan and many hiking trails behind and above the mission site in the hills.  We did not have time to hike the trails, because our goal for today was four missions, and La Purissima was just the first.

Day 6 Pictures - Mission Santa Inez

We drove to the tourist village of Solvang, CA, a “Danish” town recreated near Santa Maria, CA.  Solvang, full of half-timbered houses, windmills, gift shops, restaurants and busloads of tourists, did not interest us, but Mission Santa Inez is located there at the edge of town. It is in a developed setting, overlooking not agricultural fields but a golf course and resort.  However, it has a huge parking lot with lots of room to spare for Big Mother and the Green Machine.  We had been here several times before, as it is a working Catholic Church and is fairly close to Ted and Ann’s house.  The buildings are all beautiful and fully restored, with extensive museum rooms and lovely gardens.  The interior of the church is beautifully decorated with a splendid altar background (reredos) of carved statues of saints and the holy family.

Day 6 Pictures - Mission Santa Barbara

We drove on down the coast to Santa Barbara, CA to Mission Santa Barbara,”The Queen of the Missions”.  On the way, Judy called ahead to ask if the parking lot at the mission was large enough to accommodate both of our vehicles.  She was informed by the docent, haughtily, that the parking lot was “huge.”  As it turned out, it was not huge, but it was big enough.  The mission is located on the front of the coastal range overlooking the town; an impressive setting, but the town has grown up around it and it is in the middle of a residential area now.  The last big wildfire that the Santa Barbara area had a few years ago came down from the hills almost to the edge of the mission.  They have pictures posted – it was very close, but the mission was spared.

The mission is a working parish church, patterned after an ancient Latin chapel in pre-Christian Rome.  It has twin bell towers, Doric columns and is very large and elegantly restored, full of historical items of the mission period.  The courtyard gardens are beautiful, planted artfully with cactus, bromeliads, palms and other desert-type plants and trees.  This was a very highly decorated mission in the European style, not in the primitive mission style.

As we drove down towards our fourth stop of the day, Mission Santa Buenaventura, we decided that it was too late in the day to be able to tour it effectively.  Also, it is located in Ventura, CA, a highly developed and congested area near LA.  Since we were driving Big Mother and towing the Green Machine, we never knew if an unfamiliar area would have enough room for us to park and turn around (we can’t back up while towing.)  So we decided to skip the Ventura mission for this trip and tour it some other time.  We drove on to Point Mugu Naval Air Station where we were to spend the night.  Our RV site turned out to be just yards away from the ocean, although since we were there for only one night, we didn’t get to spend much time on the beach.  The NAS RV Park looks like a great place to stay for an extended visit sometime in the future.

San Diego Trip - Missions - Day 5

(Tuesday, November 10, 2009)

Phinneus’ 15^th birthday is today.  We traveled south on Hwy 101 from Monterey to Soledad, a small town in the upper Salinas Valley, a rich agricultural region.  Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad is isolated out in the middle of vast farms and fields.  (Lots of Broccoli growing in November.)  Many farm workers were present, some working on production and packing lines set up right in the fields.  The mission is very small and primitively decorated, with many walls painted rather than stuccoed in a fancy style.  The mission church has been rebuilt; the ruins of the old mission lay behind it with a courtyard of natural plants in between.  The old mission was left abandoned, the whitewash gradually dissolving off of its outer walls, exposing the raw adobe mud bricks to the elements.  In time, most of the walls simply melted away, collapsing the wooden roofs.  The simple restoration is very nice, close to what the original must have been.

Day 5 Pictures - Soledad Mission (Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad)

We then drove to Mission San Antonio de Padua, located on Hunter-Liggett Army Base, about 26 miles from 101.  It is in a beautiful location, set along and above a creek against a tree-lined ridge.  The bell tower (campanaria) is very beautiful and the gardens are extensive and well done, with many rosebushes.  This is a working church as well as a base chapel with many beautiful paintings on the walls and around the arched doorways.  There is a large gathering area behind the mission down by the creek, with many picnic tables and barbeque grills and a small raised stage.  We are sure there are many parish gatherings held there, a delightful spot.

Day 5 Pictures - San Antonio Mission (Mission San Antonio de Padua)

We drove through miles of ranching country to Mission San Miguel Arcangel in San Miguel, CA, a small town close to 101.  The mission, visible from the freeway, has a small front courtyard with a fountain.  The large courtyard in back is largely roped off because San Miguel is a working seminary as well as a working church.  There are many interesting artifacts in the rooms that were open.  The interior of the church is decorated with primitive Indian paintings, some still unrestored, all simple and beautiful. 

We ran into another family that was touring the missions at the same time we were.  Both families were sort of on the same schedule for a few days and ended up at the same missions at the same times.  The family, from San Diego, was an older couple (like us) with a grown daughter and her husband.  They were traveling by car and staying in motels along the way.

Day 5 Pictures - San Miguel Mission

We had a fourth mission on the schedule today, in San Luis Obispo, but by the time we were finished at Mission San Miguel, it was too late to drive to SLO and still have time to tour the mission.  We had actually visited that mission a few times before, but we will go back some day and make it an actual part of this mission tour.

We drove to the Santa Maria/Lompoc, CA area, made it through the security check at a side gate (the main gate was closed to RV’s), and parked in the Vandenberg AFB Fam Camp.  We then had dinner with Ted and Ann Suchecki at an Italian restaurant in Lompoc.  It was great to see them again, but it was a very sad time.  David, their oldest son would have been 40 tomorrow.  He passed away last December 8 from cancer.  He had been married less than two years.  They are dealing with David’s passing as well as they can, but you never really get over a loss like that.

San Diego Trip - Missions - Day 4

Monday, November 9, 2009

We had to skip Mission Santa Cruz on our drive south, since it was only open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday because of state budget cutbacks.  Santa Cruz is only about 3½ hours from where we live, so we should be able to see it fairly easily some other time.

We stopped next at Mission San Juan Bautista, which was in the town by the same name, near  Hwy 101 on the way to Monterey.  Of all the missions that we toured, San Juan Bautista is in a setting that most nearly approximates what it must have looked like in the 1800’s.  It sits on the edge of the small town, with no tall buildings in sight, facing one side of a grassy plaza.  The plaza is lined on two other sides by restored buildings of the period - houses, hotels and shops.  The 4^th side of the plaza overlooks an original portion of El Camino Real, the royal road that went from one mission to the other, San Diego to Sonoma.  There is a reproduction of one of the original bell markers on the Camino Real by the side of the road, which is set about 20’ below the level of the mission and the plaza.  The road is unpaved, and is bounded on the other side by farm fields with the mountains in the distance.  On the day we visited there, the fields were filled with workers, and it was easy to imagine how similar it must have looked in the 1800’s.  The inside of the mission has been beautifully restored and is a working Catholic church.  One of the largest mission church interiors, it has 3 aisles.  The gardens and courtyards were beautiful.  This was Judy’s favorite mission because of the location.


Day 4 Pictures - San Juan Bautista Mission

 After a wonderful visit to this very peaceful place, we drove on to Monterey, CA, the Monterey Pines RV Park and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo in Carmel-By-The-Sea.  We unhitched the green machine at the park and drove to the mission, about ½  hour away.  We had been there two or three times before, but the place is worth many return visits.  It is near the heart of downtown Carmel in a lovely residential neighborhood.  The mission, which has been designated a Basilica, adjoins a working school and convent, has a large entrance courtyard, a larger interior courtyard, and a museum with many artifacts and many outbuildings.  Pope John Paul visited here is 1987, and the site where he said Mass is marked by a plaque.  Fr. Junipero Serra, the founder of most of the missions, is buried here.  Everything is beautifully restored, inside and out.


Day 4 Pictures - Carmel Mission (San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo)

We went to dinner at the Mission Ranch Restaurant nearby, owned by Clint Eastwood.  We had eaten there several times before and the food was excellent.  We have never seen Clint there, but we are told he drops in now and then.  There is a lively piano bar and a nice patio/ outside eating area overlooking the wetlands with spectacular sunsets over the Pacific.  It is one of our favorite restaurants.

Spring Training Trip - Missions - Day 8

Anotherbeautiful day with perfect weather.  Afterbreakfast, we drove to Mission Buenaventura, the 21^st and last missionon the mission tour we started 2 years ago. It is about 15 miles from Point Mugu Campground in downtown Ventura,easy to find with the GPS.  The missionis a working Catholic church and has been restored to its 1800’s appearance,with a beautiful courtyard, many statues and paintings in the church, and asmall museum full of artifacts.  We wereable to join a guided tour which had been set up ahead of time, so we learned alot of information about the mission that we would normally not haveheard.  We actually toured with about 304^th graders and some of their parents; California mission studiesare taught in that school year to all students.   We are really glad we did the mission tour –it’s such a big piece of California history.

Whilewe were walking back to the car, we noticed an olive oil store, All Olive,which looked interesting, so we went in and talked to the owner for a while.  There is another branch of the store in ElDorado Hills, not too far from where we live. We bought some delicious balsamic vinegar and basil oil in bottles thatcan be refilled at a reduced rate.  Thestore was beautifully set up with lots of dips, oils and vinegars to taste andtry out.

Wethen drove to the Ventura Harbor and had lunch at Andria’s Seafood Restaurantand Market – fried halibut and chips, clam chowder and a shrimp tostada –delicious!  We then walked around theshops in the harbor area, looking at all the beautiful boats moored there,meanwhile looking for chocolate chip cookies. We found the cookies and got mochas also.

 

Atthe entrance of the harbor, we toured the Channel Islands National Park visitor’scenter.  The 5 Channel Islands, San Miguel,Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa and Santa Barbara lie just off the coast ofVentura County.  They are protected areasthat have several species of birds, plants and animals that are found nowhereelse, as well as huge nesting areas for migratory birds and an enormous rookeryfor seals and sea lions.  You can get boator airplane trips out to the islands, and even camp there overnight, but wedidn’t have time for that on this trip. The visitor’s center had a tidepool with 3 or 4 huge sea stars and aspiny lobster, as well as other kinds of fish and smaller sea stars.  We also discovered there that there are twoother Channel Islands nearby which are not open to the public, San Nicholas andSan Clemente, both owned and used by the U.S. Navy.

Onthe way back to the RV, we stopped at the Navy Exchange (BX) for some ice andpizza for dinner, and watched an old movie on TV (Close Encounters of theThird Kind).  Actually, this was oursecond movie of the day – this morning before we left the RV we watched most ofGiant, made in 1956 and James Dean’s last movie.

Day 8 Pictures

Spring Training Trip - Missions - Day 4

Weslept in and ate a late breakfast “out” this morning at the Apple FarmRestaurant in San Louis Opbispo, a favorite of ours from previous visits.  The weather was cooler than yesterday andsomewhat overcast.  We then toured themission as part of our California mission tour. We had actually been here before, Pat and I once and I was here once bymyself while Pat was attending a Coastwalk board meeting.

MissionSan Louis Opispo de Tolosa is still aworking Catholic church, as are several of the other 21 missions stretchingfrom San Diego to Sonoma.  The church,courtyard, gardens and compound has been fully restored and retrofitted for anypossible earthquakes.  The interior ofthe church is fairly plain and primitive, not over-decorated like some of theother missions on our tour. The mission setting is beautiful, set along SanLuis Creek in the middle of the city. There is a small museum and gift shop; entrance to the mission is freewith a donation box available.

Afterwardswe walked around the city, bought lattes and window shopped, then drove to alocal mall and shopped some more.  Afterbuying a few groceries, we came back to the RV, worked on this blog and thepictures (Pat), read for a while and took a nap (me), and hitched up the VW inpreparation for leaving tomorrow morning. It is supposed to start raining tonight, so we will eat dinner in.

Day 4 Pictures