We slept in, ate breakfast and headed out tothe Santa Cruz Mission and found it in two locations, separated by one block ofresidential houses and a school. Of the19 missions we have visited in California, this was the only one that isdivided by two factions – that of the Catholic Church and that of the State ofCalifornia.
The church’s location, on part of theoriginal mission grounds, is a small-scale replica of what it is supposed thatthe original mission church looked like, plus a small side wing containing oldvestments, chalices and religious pictures, along with a gift shop and a smallcourtyard garden. The chapel isundecorated except for some religious statues and small stations of the cross.
The plaza/park in front of the chapel iswooded and grassy, with a fountain, paths and benches. At one end of the plaza is a new Catholicchurch, the Church of the Holy Cross. Itwas not open at the time we were there.
The State of California’s location, a StateHistoric Park, is one block away, also on part of the original mission grounds. It consists of an original adobe residencebuilding, a gift shop, state park offices and a grassy and shaded courtyardpicnic area with a “beehive” oven. Theadobe, built in the 1700’s by Indian labor, was used to house Indianfamilies. Later, after secularization ofthe missions, Californio families were housed there, and later, anIrish-American family from Kilkenny lived there. Nine or ten different rooms were in variousstages of restoration and remodeling, a result of all of the differentresidents’ needs at the time.
The use (and ill use) of the local Indians bythe padres was described on several of the informational plaques throughout theadobe in no uncertain terms. We feelthat because of the historical accuracy of this information, at least at thismission, no mention was made at the church’s location of the existence of thestate park, just one block away. Luckily, the Santa Cruz tourist information pamphlet that we had showedboth locations on its map.
We went to Natural Bridges State Park on theocean nearby to see if any Monarch butterflies were still there from the annualmigration. Because of the unseasonablymild weather this winter, most of them were already heading back to Canada forthe summer. Another generation of themwill be back in Santa Cruz next October, ready to spend another winter on thecoast. A few Monarchs were still hangingaround today (there is always somebody who doesn’t get the message), so Pat gotsome pictures of them.
We then walked along the coastal cliffs northof the Santa Cruz pier and watched many surfers ignoring the “EXTREMELY HAZARDOUSCONDITIONS! DO NOT ENTER THE WATER!”signs. Apparently there wereexceptionally high tides today and the waves rolling in from Japan were huge - awesometo us. The warning signs probablybrought out more surfers than usual – there were a lot of them out there.
We had a wonderful late lunch at The Crow’sNest, a restaurant right next to the East Harbor in Santa Cruz, while wewatched the boat traffic in and out of the harbor. Since there is a large breakwater on bothsides of the harbor entrance, the waves were not as large there.
After 4 hours rest back at the RV, we drovesouth to Moss Landing, CA through a clear and cold moonlit night for dinner atPhil’s Fish Market, a great seafood restaurant we had been to before. After red and white clam chowder, seafoodquesadillas and fried clam strips, we are back at the RV for the evening.
Day 2 Pictures
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