Vacation: San Francisco - Day 4

On our last day of our shortened vacation we planned to visit out last Mission, Saint Francisco de Asis, and return to Mission San Juan Bautista that was closed on the way up.

The Saint Francisco de Asis Mission, also known as Mission Dolores, is a beautiful Basilica. It took us a while to find a parking spot but we managed to find one a couple blocks away in this nice, residential area of San Francisco. It was strange. I mean, how appropriate that our last of the 21 missions was known as Mission Dolores? We toured the Mission and I took pictures. It was one of the better of the northern Missions. Pictures can be found here.

We left the city and headed south to Mission San Juan Bautista. This mission had been closed when we came up on day 1. We stopped to have lunch at JJ's Homemade Burgers. The burgers were pretty good. We walked up to the Mission and did the self guided tour. The Mission is really close to the San Andreas fault. Aa a matter of fact the fault runs along the edge of the cemetery on one side of the mission. The mission has sustained very little earthquake damage over the years. This may be explained by the very thick mission walls - 4 - 6 feet thick in places. Some of the pictures I took can be found here.

I decided not to go down on the 101 and instead took the 156/152 east to the 5. This stretch of road was beautiful with everything being green and the road lined with forested rolling hills. The 5, on the other hand, was totally boring. I was expecting new towns and new sights since I hadn't been on the 5 for twenty years. No. There are no towns on the 5. The nearest buildings could just barely be seen on the horizon. Boring. I decided I need to get past this stretch so I cranked the Honda up to 90 and put on some music. That helped a little bit and we made it home in record time.

The next few hours after getting home were occupied with unpacking, repacking, and talking with the "J" who was house-sitting for us. The next day would be an early morning with a flight to Minneapolis. The vacation was over.

Vacation: San Francisco - Day 3

Day three of our San Francisco vacation was dedicated to more Missions. We decide to stick as close to our original schedule as possible.

We got in our car and headed north. The first stop was going to be Mission San Rafael. To get there we would cross the Golden Gate Bridge. Now, for those who don't know, The Wife has a near phobic fear of bridges over water. The Golden Gate is a bridge ... over water. As we approach I could see the apprehension in the Wife's face. This was emphasized by her getting ready for the crossing by reaching for a plastic bag to hurl in. Yep, it's a chunk-blowing-inducing type of fear. I steered the car into the center-most lane figuring that the closer to the center of the bridge the better. That turned out to be the right decision. As we started crossing the bridge you couldn't see much over the side of the bridge and the Wife said "this isn't so bad" and commented about how pretty the bridge was. It is an attractive bridge. Before you know it we were off the bridge and I pulled into a viewing area so we could get pictures of the bridge. I am proud of the Wife. The bag went unused.

We arrived in San Rafael about an hour before Mass. We walked down to the nearby main street and looked for a place to get some breakfast. After entering and making a hasty retreat from a Starbucks (We both HATE Starbucks for some reason - neither of us drink coffee) we located an open cafe/deli. It was an interesting place. It looked like it was owned by a middle eastern gentleman and there was a large map of the middle east painted on one wall. I'm not exactly sure what it represented. It did not have any national borders marked and it didn't seem to correspond to modern day middle east. Several holy sites were marked - Mosques I assume. I thought it might be a map of the Ottoman Empire or the territories controlled by the Caliphate but neither of these maps seem to match what was on the wall.

After a pretty good breakfast of eggs, ham, hash browns, and toast, we returned to the church and attended Mass. After Mass we looked around a little bit but the store was closed and the actual Mission was occupied with Vietnamese and Brazilian Masses. The list of ethnic Masses is testament to the diversity of San Rafael's populace. We decided to move on to the next mission. A couple pictures of San Rafael can be found here.

Mission San Francisco Solano is in Sonoma. The directions I had were dead on. Unfortunately we did not follow them. We made four or five wrong turns before we decided to actually follow the directions. We toured the state run mission. The store was open here - government offices do not recognize Easter holiday - and I found a really cool old style California map t-shirt. I would have bought one if they had my size. *sigh* This mission was the end of the line. The end of the mission trail was marked with a plaque. It felt weird reaching he end. It was not the end for us as we had two more missions to visit after Solano. A couple pictures are here.

We thought about walking around the square near the mission. It was an attractive downtown and the Ben & Jerry's beckoned but we fought the urge and decided to try for Mission San Jose instead.

Returning to the car we pulled out a map and figured out our route to San Jose ("Do you know the way to San Jose" rang in our heads). The drive down was uneventful - i.e. only one wrong turn that was easily corrected. We arrived to find Mission San Jose closed ... of course. We were so fed up with closed missions that we decided that touching the outside of the Mission constituted officially visiting it. A couple pictures of the Mission are here.

We returned via the longer and less attractive Bay Bridge. The Wife didn't like it but managed it with little difficulty. I'm proud of her. We arrived at the Royal Pacific and the Wife suggested a small restaurant across the street - I think it was called Joe's. She walked down the street and confirmed it was open. We went up to our room, freshened up, and went back out and ... it was closed. *sigh* We decided to go back to the San Francisco Brewing company where we ate the day before and we had another good meal. Of course Joe's, or whatever it was called, was open when we returned to the Inn.

That's the end of day 3, our last full day in San Francisco. A lot of driving but not bad as everything was so green.

Vacation: San Francisco - Day 2

Day 2, after the frenzy of reservation making, unmaking, and rearranging, started in Santa Clara, CA. We had looked at our itinerary and, after a few calls to the Alcatraz and Angel Island tour people, decided it was impossible to reschedule these tours this trip. We would follow the original itinerary as close as possible and try to fit in all the Missions and a few of the easier side trips.

After a good breakfast at an IHOP down the way from our hotel, our first stop on day 2 was Mission Santa Clara. The Mission is located on the campus of Santa Clara University. The campus is very attractive and the gardens surrounding the Mission were in bloom. The Wife was amazed at the wisteria that clung to an arbor. We toured the church and I took pictures. There was no store near the Mission so we asked a student-looking fellow if he could direct us to the university bookstore. He gave us good directions but, unfortunately, the store was closed. No Santa Clara swag today. You would have thought that Easter weekend would be a great time to visit the Missions but you would be wrong. Three of the Seven that we visited on this trip were closed. A few pictures of the Mission can be found here.

We left the Mission and headed to the nearby Winchester Mystery House. After missing our turn a couple times and watching an Ambulance drive the wrong way on a busy street, we managed to get there. We bought our tickets for the Mansion tour. We had about an hour to kill before the tour started so we perused the overly commercial gift shop (most of the items in the shop had nothing to do with the Winchester House) and had a humongous M&M cookie. The cookie, about 10"-12" in diameter tasted really good but sat rather heavily on top of the breakfast we'd had earlier that morning.

I wandered around the gardens taking pictures until it was time to start. Our tour guide was an a young lady of college age who was versed in all the lame tour guide jokes about the house. She walked us through the 161 room house built by the widow of William Winchester of Winchester Rifle fame. After the untimely death of her husband and young daughter, she consulted a spiritualist who told her that they had been killed by the spirits of all those who had been killed by the Winchester Rifle. She too would die if she didn't do something quick. To appease the spirits she moved to Santa Clara and bought an unfinished farm house and began having work done on the house. She thought that if the house were ever finished she too would die. Thus began the building of the Winchester House, a house that was never finished and where the building continued 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. The construction often didn't make sense. There were doors on the third floor that open to open air. There were stairs that rose to the ceiling with not outlet. There were closets 1 inch deep. The passages and rooms became a maze. Some say the chaos was to confuse the spirits. Others believe that Mrs. Winchester was just a bad designer who didn't plan well.

The house, convoluted as it was, was very nice with expensive furnishings and Tiffany glass windows and chandeliers. For all the chaos on the inside, the outside is attractive and coherent.

We didn't see any ghosts or vengeful spirits during the 65 minute tour but it was interesting. Most of the inside pictures didn't come out very well due to the lack of light - I really need to get me a tripod - but the pictures I did take can be found here.

After the Winchester House we decided to try to do Mission San Jose on the way to San Francisco. I looked at my directions and I thought I had a good plan to get to the Mission. As we drove north I noticed a large body of water on our right - San Francisco Bay. It should not have been on the right. If anything, it should have been on the left. Oops. I should have turned onto 101S instead of 101N. We decided to skip the mission for now and headed into the city.

I just want to make clear right away that I do not like one way streets. They are a royal pain in the a$$. San Francisco is full of one way streets. I was kind of prepared for this but I was not prepared for all the No Left Turn signs. No Left Turns can be worse than one way streets. We ended up making five turns to make a simple left turn onto Broadway.

Our hotel, the Royal Pacific Motor Inn, is located on the corner of Chinatown and the red light district. We'd stayed there the last time we were in San Francisco and we knew what to expect. It's not the best hotel and the area feels pretty rough but when we go on vacation we aren't going for the hotel room. The room is just a place to sleep in between all the fun and interesting stuff. The Royal Pacific fits the bill nicely. The view from our room was pretty good with a clear shot of the Transamerica Building and the Bay Bridge.

OK, a question: why do four and five star hotels charge you for wireless internet access while the crappy hotels offer it for free? Doesn't make much sense to me. The Royal Pacific only had access in the lobby but it was free so I couldn't complain.

After we checked in, we headed out to one of the Wife's place's of interest: The City Lights Bookstore. The Wife is interested in the Beat Poets and City Lights was one of their hangouts. We'd been there before but the Wife needed another poster for her classroom. The bookstore is only a couple blocks from the hotel so it was a very easy stroll. We walked through the store which, the Wife and I agree, was full of giants. Everyone seemed to be over six feet tall. We bought the Wife's poster and we walked through the back alley, known as Jack Kerouac Alley, and read the poetry inset into the pavement, the murals painted on the wall, and the strange graffiti.

By this time we were both a little hungry so we started looking around for a place to eat. We ended up at the San Francisco Brewing Company, a nice old Brew Pub with a lot of history. While we ate dinner the Wife asked our enthusiastic server the best way to get to Mission San Francisco de Asis. The directions to the mission involved taking Market Street to Dolores St. When the server left, the mentioning of Dolores was too much for the Wife. A few tears flowed.

We finished our meal and asked our server if there was a convenience store where we could by some snacks. She gave us directions to a Walgreens not too far from our hotel. Actually she gave them to us twice. We didn't listen very well the first time (we were a little tired). The second time she actually pantomimed the walking and turning in such a way that even we could understand them.

We left the pub and started following the directions. We reached a corner where a right turn was called for. We looked down the street and couldn't see a Walgreens. We asked a guy who came from that direction and he said he hadn't seen it. Soooo, we took a left and walked a block or two before we gave up and walked back to the corner. This time we turned right like the server has said and less then a block later ... Walgreens. This would not be the last time we didn't follow directions on this vacation.

That night I scarfed down a bag of Twizzlers Pull-n-Peel (Cherry) which, added to the half of a giant cookie, probably didn't do me good. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like crap. I made it to the bathroom where I had to sit down since my legs were getting a little noodly and my stomach wasn't feeling so hot. I'd felt like this before when I'd had food poisoning. I was really afraid since food poisoning would knock me out for the next two to three days. I made it back in bed (The Wife slept through all this) and I slept through the rest of the night. I woke up feeling fine so I guess it wasn't food poisoning.

That was our busy day 2. Here a few San Francisco Pictures.

Vacation: San Francisco - Day 1

Day one of our vacation was ... not quite what we expected. Not bad but not as good as it could have been.

We got on the road around 7:00 AM and headed north on 101. There was very little traffic. The cruise control controlled the cruise and we made pretty good time.

Our first stop was Mission San Juan Bautista. It was closed. Yep, unfortunately, the mission is closed on Good Friday. We decided we would catch this mission on the way home and we walked through downtown San Juan Bautista.

The town has a nice downtown full of artists studios and antique shops. Every now and then a rooster would crow - probably practicing for the upcoming second annual San Juan Bautista Chicken Festival and Parade. We looked for a place to eat and ended up at the Mariposa Restaurant, an old house that was converted into restaurant. The place reminded me of my Grandma's house. The food was delicious.

On the way back to the car, the Wife bought a complete set of hand painted mission notecards from the artist, Norm, at the Lazy H Studio.

We got back on the road and headed to Mission Santa Cruz. We arrived, got out of our car, looked around, and wondered where the mission was. The only thing there was a reconstructed chapel, a gift shop with museum displays, and a tiny little garden. Not very impressive.

We decided to find our hotel, the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara ( we got it at a great price. Not to sound like an advertisement but Hotwire.com got us a great price on the room - $76 bucks at a great hotel). On the way we passed eBay, Intel, AMD, and many other technology Holy Places. After checking in we went down to the hot tub to soak. It felt awesome except for the little obnoxious kids who just had to talk to us. We ignored them the best we could but they were still annoying.

Then the real adventure began - the search for dinner. We really didn't have any idea of which direction to drive in so we set off in a random direction and went a searching. After driving around and around, seeing such geek drool inducing sights as Yahoo, Sun, and Oracle, and driving around some more until our gas light came on, we found an Italian restaurant. It turns out we drove close to 10 miles just to end up a few blocks from our hotel. For a second there I thought geeks here didn't eat. The restaurant turned out to be a little too fussy for me. I'm not much for fussy food. The wondering violin player irritated me a little bit as well. We left the restaurant and went looking for ice cream and ran into a several, less fussy restaurants. *sigh* We did find ice cream.

Not the greatest start of the vacation but we don't care. WE'RE ON VACATION!!! WOO WHOO! Since we really didn't see anything, I took no pictures.

Entertaining the MoH and BM - Day 1 and 2

Day 1 (Friday) went pretty well. While the Wife was at work the BM, MOH, and I went to have lunch at the Cold Spring Tavern. The MoH and BM declared it delicious and an awesome place.

After our satisfying lunch we did two geocaches - one along Stagecoach Road, not far from the tavern, and another on highway 154 near Lake Cachuma. Both caches were park and grabs and were a good introduction for the MoH and BM to the hobby. Both were rather clever hides.

At this point I realized that there was just not enough time to do any more geocaches so we headed over to Lompoc to tour Mission La Purisima. The weather was perfect. Everything was green. We all had a great time. I took a few more pictures and added them to my collection of La Purisima Mission Pictures.

We then fought the bad Santa Barbara traffic to get home in time to meet up with the Wife and go to Pirates Grub N Grog. Just about then the bug, which had been pretty much dormant all day, decided to make a come back. It was kind of weird - I felt feverish but I didn't have a fever. I decided to bow out of the high school basketball game and went home to rest instead.

I finished off some internet news and Blog reading (Priorities, Priorities) before I drugged myself and got in bed. I managed to finish the book I was reading before turning out the light.

Day 2 (Saturday) will be occupied with facials for the ladies followed by shopping in downtown Ventura. A light and easy day.

Angels And Swallows

On Sunday we were supposed to go to the Doo Dah Parade and Mission San Juan Capistrano. Well, it turns out that the Doo Dah Parade, advertised as the "occasional" parade, will be on 20 January 2008. The 2007 parade will be held in 2008. Go figure. They were holding the Doo Dah Parade Queen auditions on Sunday and I suggested that the wife and the "J" apply but, after contemplating the idea with a twinkle in their eyes, they decided not to. So we postponed the parade trip. We still were interested in going to Capistrano and the wife suggested we go to Mass at the Los Angeles Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. So on Sunday the "J" dropped by and we headed to the Cathedral.

The Cathedral is a little controversial because of its contemporary design that some consider ugly. I'll have to admit, the outside is very blocky and not that attractive. We had some time before Mass started so we walked around the grounds including the children's park and the fountains before dropping some dough at the gift shop.

We entered the cathedral and walked through some of the art exhibits in the small side chapels. The inside of the cathedral is pretty impressive. There is a mixture of the old and the new. The tapestries are very interesting and very well done. The sconces are each unique.

Mass started and we sat down. Cardinal Mahony presided over the Mass. Nothing special here, just an ordinary Catholic Mass. An interesting factoid: The Cardinal's chair is made of wood from 6 of the 7 continents. Unfortunately none of my pictures of the chair came out.

After Mass we went down and walked through the mausoleum. Very cool. There were some beautiful stained glass windows. I saw Gregory Peck's burial spot. Pictures of the cathedral and the mausoleum can be found here.

After one last visit to the gift shop we got back on the road and drove down to Mission San Juan Capistrano. We parked near the Basilica and walked around the corner to visit the Mission. The cost of admission included an electronic tour. I listened to some of it but most of the time I just wandered the grounds. The main structure of the mission was destroyed by an earthquake in 1812 when over 40 people died including two young boys in the bell tower ringing the bells. They have decided not to rebuild it and to preserve it as close to its present state. I think that is a wise choice. It shows what this mission has gone through. The small Serra Chapel, under renovation when we were there, is considered the oldest church in California.

The mission grounds were very attractive. The gardens were in bloom and fountains were full of colorful fish. The flowers attracted a large number of monarch butterflies. There were no swallows here at this time and I hear that they don't come here as much as they used to - too many tourists. This was a beautiful mission. The sun was starting to get low and the angles of the shadows enhanced the views. Everywhere you looked there was something that would catch your eye. I was very impressed by this one. More attractive then most in my opinion. Pictures of the mission can be found here.

A CLARIFICATION:

I want to take a brief moment at the end of this post to explain to the occasional readers of Homer's Travels about me and religion. Despite the Mission posts, Salvation Mountain, the Rosary Bowl, the search for Mary apparitions in the Mojave, the Pilgrimage of Saint James I am contemplating, and other Catholic related posts, I am not a religious person. The wife is Catholic and, even though I am not, I do respect her beliefs and I do enjoy this stuff from an historical and cultural perspective.

The Mission Mission Continues ...

On Sunday we continued our long postponed Mission mission hitting the road with the "J" and visiting Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad and Mission San Carlos Barroméo de Carmelo. This was a long roadtrip starting at 7:45 am and ending at 9:15 pm - 13 and 1/2 hours on the road. Even though it was very long, we all had a great time.

The wife and I picked up the "J" and headed up the 101. We were supplying the transportation and the food, the "J" supplied the witty repartee. It was warm and the sky was absolutely clear - perfect roadtrip weather. We stopped in King City around 11:30-ish and had lunch at Margie's Diner which proudly boasted that they served Real Food. The place was a typical roadside restaurant that served good portions of pretty good food in a timely fashion.

After fueling up our bodies and the car, we headed to the Soledad Mission. This mission is in total disrepair. The standing buildings are replicas of the original. Only the foundations and slowly dissolving adobe walls remain. We walked through the grounds, examined the fountain with the goldfish, and visited the rebuilt and actively used chapel. Pictures are here.

We got back in the car and took a road through central California farmland around the mountains to the city of Carmel-By-The_Sea. In Carmel we visited the Carmel Mission. What a difference money makes. Soledad was out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by farmland. Carmel is located in an affluent city surrounded by money. The mission has been restored to its original splendor. Carmel Mission is famous for being the resting place of Padre Serra, founder of many of the missions including the first in San Diego. We walked around and took pictures. Note the skewed window in the Mission. Not sure why it leans as it does. Pictures can be found here.

After leaving Carmel we drove south on CA-1. The drive from Monterey to San Simeon is one of the most beautiful drives I have every experienced. The wife is suffering through allergies and she slept through some of the drive south. The "J" also slept part of it. I was driving so I didn't sleep and saw all the beauty of the drive. We didn't stop along the CA-1 so no pictures were taken. Some things cannot be captured in photographs - some things have to be experienced or in this case, driven. We arrived at Cambria at about 5:00 so we decided to stop for dinner. Dinner was at the Main Street Grill followed by some ice cream. A little shopping we were back on the road. The next three hours was uneventful except for fighting Santa Barbara traffic. There were a a lot of highway patrol out this labor day weekend.

Some of you may not believe that driving for 10 hours is fun but it is. I like to drive as long as the destination is worth it and there is no traffic. I had a good day. Good Driving, Good Food, Good Missions, Good Company. With these two missions, we have now visited 13 Missions. The next will probably be Capistrano. Not sure when.

On a little side note, the "J" came through again giving me a foot spa to soak and massage my feet. I used it today and it felt wonderful. It relieved my tendonitis ache. Thanks "J"!

Santa Barbara I Madonnari 2007

A couple of years ago we went to the I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival in Santa Barbara. This year we were joined by the "J". There was a large crowd this year enjoying the Italian inspired festival. The chalk artwork, spread out over the asphalt in front of the Santa Barbara Mission, is colorful, artful, and utterly fascinating. The skill level ranges from beginner to masterpiece. When we weren't admiring the art, we were enjoying the Italian food and live music. Last time there seemed to be less food. This year there was a large variety ranging from chicken, pasta, calamari, and pizza. After we got our fill of chalk, pasta, and ice cream, we walked through the rose garden and enjoyed the sun that finally decided to join the festival. Pictures, lots of them, can be found here.

The Mission Mission ... Incomplete

Sunday, the "J", the wife, and I got back in the car and headed south again, this time to visit three missions - San Diego, San Luis Rey, and San Juan Capistrano. We miscalculated the time needed and we did not visit San Juan Capistrano. Oh well, another roadtrip is in our future.

We left our house at 9:00 and made it down to San Diego before Noon. Mass was still going on at Mission San Diego de Alcala so we found a Chili's nearby and stopped to eat lunch. After our yummy lunch we went back to the Mission and toured, took pictures, and shopped the gift shop. This was the first mission established by Padre Junipero Serra. The mission was similar to the other urban missions we had visited before. While I like going to the missions, they are starting to look the same. The pictures are here.

We left San Diego and drove north to Oceanside, CA to visit San Luis Rey. This Mission was more impressive. We toured the Mission grounds and soon realized that the Mission would soon be closed. We finished the tour, took some pictures, and ... shopped the gift shop. Pictures are here.

We headed for San Juan Capistrano but realized that we weren't going to make it. We decided to reschedule this visit for a later date. I am also looking at going to Mission Nuestro Senora de la Soledad and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmel up north. The drive would be around nine hours which doesn't sound so bad since some of our recent roadtrips.

Downtown Ventura

I have lived in Ventura County almost 20 years and I am still discovering new things everyday. I didn't want to sit around all day and the wife was busy with school work so I went solo and headed to downtown Ventura to explore and take some pictures.

After eating lunch I started exploring. Ventura has an attractive downtown area. The Main Street is lined with restaurants, high end shops, and pawn/thrift/antique/junk shops full of treasures. It is amazing all the junk ( err ... Treasures?) that people have bought at one time or other that eventually end up in the antique-junk stores. The staggering number of tacky chachkies is overwhelming - this doesn't stop me from walking through a store or two. I usually do my downtown walk before Christmas while I shop for the wife but this year I didn't make it. Today was a wonderful day to walk the town. It has been chilly here in southern California but the sun was warm and the breeze light enough that I eventually had to take my jacket off.

I headed up to the San Buenaventura City Hall. The building recently went through a thorough cleaning and renovation and was shining in the brilliant sunshine. The building is adorned with monk heads - each different from the other. The view from the City Hall steps down California Street to the Pacific is awesome.

I continued down to the San Buenaventura Mission. It is kind of ironic that after visiting 7 missions all over central and southern California, I had never visited the mission in my own backyard. I always included it when I counted missions visited but I was not totally honest - now I'm on the up and up. It only took me 19 1/2 years to do it. The mission is not impressive from the outside but the gardens are well kept and I was pleasantly surprised.

Across Main Street from the mission is a park with fountains and a mural dedicated to the Chinese laborers that used to live in the area. China Alley eventually emptied out as the Chinese looked for jobs in nearby Oxnard and fled the hostile treatment they were subject to.

After the park and Mission I had worked up a need for sweets so I stopped by Palermo Coffee and bought two double-chocolate truffles (Double Yum!).

I finished the afternoon with a drive up to Grant Park where the original Mission cross stood and admired the views of Ventura, the Channel Islands, and the Pacific Coast. There are often people her flying remote controlled gliders - today there was only one lone wind rider.

I have posted some more mission and downtown Ventura pictures on Flickr.

San Miguel Mary

Here is a Mary statue that the wife bought at Mission San Miguel. This picture really doesn't do it justice - She is truly gorgeous. She is very reminiscent of the Mary's we saw in Peru and at Mission La Purisima.

Mission San Antonio de Padua

We had a full Saturday. We decided to go to the Mission of San Antonia De Padua. The drive promised to be a long nine hours. We picked up the "J", who couldn't pass up this great opportunity to be stuck in a car with us for over 9 hours, and we were off. We stopped in Paso Robles (full name: El Paso de los Robles) for an early lunch since we didn't expect to find any place to eat further on (this turned out to be an incorrect assumption since we passed several eating establishments after that). We ate at the wonderful Wilson's Restaurant, established in 1948 and decorated in 1970's Porn Chic.

After our satisfying and filling meal, we headed toward the Mission. The mission is located inside the Fort Hunter Liggett Military Reservation. The mission is the furthest from the beaten path being about 16 miles east of highway 101. San Antonio de Padua is a nice mission. Set in a beautiful area of the central coast, there were many opportunities for pictures.

After our customary visit to the mission store, we walked around the active mission and explored the surrounding grounds. The mission brought water from the hills using an aqueduct. the aqueduct fed water under a mill where a water-wheel turned a grinding stone. The wife was walking by the mill house when another visitor started turning the water wheel. The wife, praying with a new rosary she had bought in the mission store, was surprised by the noise of the turning grind wheel. She came around the corner with a wide-eyed expression. I pointed out the water-wheel to her which ended her religious experience. HA!

In front of the mission were displayed two ship's mast heads that were donated to the missions by sailors. No one knows how old they are or what their history is. They do look old and I am sure they are well traveled. Who knows what wonderful things these heads have witnessed.
We have to appologize to the "J". The night before she had suggested we pack a picnic lunch which we poo-poo-ed thinking that there wouldn't be anywhere to stop and eat. It turns out that the Mission had picnic tables shaded by oaks nearby and a picnic would have been great - Sorry "J"!

After leaving the mission we stopped by the Hacienda - a hotel that originally was William Randolph Hearst's hunting lodge. The restaurant/bar was closed which was disappointing since we were looking forward to something to drink. As we drove away the eagle-eyed wife saw some vending machine in the distance and we quenched out thirsts. The vending machines were outside the fort's barber shop/store/post office. The strange thing was that several of the signs were in English and Arabic. Odd.

We had so much fun on this trip that I am going to split the post in two. Part two will describe the drive on the Nacimiento-Ferguson road, the drive down the PCH, and a visit to Harmony, CA.

To Be Continued ...

I Gotta Get Out Of This House

O.K. It's been four days since my last post and it's time to bring people up to date. Christmas is finally over. I have felt cooped up in the house despite a trip to the Outlet Mall on Tuesday. We opted for another Mission mission and set our sights on San Miguel Archangel. We rung up the "J" to see if she wanted to go with us (she said Sure!) and we made plans to drive up on Thursday.

We picked "J" up at 9:00 and headed north to the Paso Robles area. It's a three hour drive which went fairly fast despite the traffic near San Luis Obispo. The day was perfect for Mission gazing. A Clear blue sky, crisp December air, and warm sunshine to keep the chill away. The San Miguel Mission was damaged by the San Simeon earthquake of December 2003 and you can not enter the church. The damage to the church was quite obvious with one of the church walls propped in place with wooden braces. The gift shop and a small museum are open though. The wife purchased a beautiful statue of Mary, its form reminiscent of the Peruvian Mary. The priest, as rundown as the church, blessed the statue before it was boxed up. We then walked around the grounds and took some pictures.

We then headed back to Highway 46 and drove west to the Ocean. We stopped at a scenic overlook that was breathtaking this morning. Usually the haze restricts the view but the winds we have been having the pass few days blew away all the haze letting us see all the way to Morro Bay. The panorama below doesn't do it justice since the sun is washing out a lot of the picture but it gives you some idea.


We made our way to Cambria, had lunch and shopped around. We came across a sign for Nitt Witt Ridge. That sounded like our kind of place. We drove up but discovered that tours required reservations. Next time perhaps.

We then headed north to see the Elephant Seals. They were out in all their splendor. We have been here before but there were a lot more pups this time then before. I saw one of these suckers move - I never expected something this large haul-ass like a freight train down the beach. Very impressive ... and disgusting ... at the same time.

We returned to Cambria to visit a few more stores and headed home. Mission numero ocho is off the list. We are thinking about doing another about an hour north of San Miguel tomorrow. It's a longer drive but I don't want to just hang around the house. If we go, this will be the last we can do in a single day-trip. All the rest will probably be done with overnight stays.

Missions La Purisima and Santa Inez and Solvang

Yesterday, Saturday, the wife, the 'J', and I drove up to Lompoc, CA to visit our seventh mission. La Purisima Concepcion de Maria Santisima Mission is not an active parish and is run as a California State Park. It is advertised as the most restored of all the missions. We weren't expecting much but were all pleasantly surprised. The Mission which occupies 2000 acres was restored by the CCC in the 1930s. The did a terrific job. We were very impressed. This was the first mission we've been to that was not in an urban setting so the open fields, gardens and livestock pens were a refreshing change. The mission pictures here are from La Purisima including a painting of Mary reminiscent of the Marys we say in Peru and the golden confessional.

After La Purisima we drove to Solvang, CA location of the Santa Inez Mission. We had already visited the Santa Inez mission years ago but the 'J' had never been there. Solvang, which means Sunny Field in Danish, is a very touristy town built on the Danish theme. The town was settled by Danish Protestants from Des Moines, IA. The area is Wine country and is near where the movie Sideways was filmed. While the town feels like a hardcore tourist trap, the shopping is pretty good and there are several unique stores including an antique store that I find fascinating. We didn't get to visit the store this time around but it is full of offbeat antiques including automatons and music machines.

After lunch and some shopping we visited the Santa Inez mission which is located at the end of the town. We toured the mission and then headed back into town for more shopping and a stop at a Chocolate shop for some ice cream. 

The height of our trip was after we left the ice cream shop. We were walking along when a little boy straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting, sitting in front of a store tweaking his ears, loudly proclaimed: "Neener Neener Neener!" After we got over the surprise we all laughed. I have no idea what set him off. We seem to attract weird people - even the young ones. HA!

The day was very full and we got home after dark. Homer was very hungry the the wife and I were tired. A good day indeed.

San Fernando Mission

On Sunday after the fantabulous Doo Dah parade, we went to another of California's missions - this one in San Fernando. The mission was a typical mission, very well maintained/restored. We toured the mission which was preparing for a wedding. We were both surprised to find that Bob Hope is buried at the mission in the Bob Hope Memorial Garden.

We have now visited Six of the Twenty-One Missions. My goal is to visit them all by summer 2008.

San Gabriel Mission and a Return to Olvera Street and Chinatown

After our trip to Olvera Street, the wife mentioned our trip to one of her friends, let's call her 'J', who expressed her interest in going. On Sunday we decided to go back with 'J' in tow to look for more treasures. We decided to add one of the California Missions (Mission San Gabriel) to our trip to add something new for us.

We started our Sunday trip with a hearty breakfast at Uncle Herb's. The staff were all dressed up in Halloween fare. There was a fog machine and everything was decorated. There were several young children who wouldn't go in because it was too scary. We had a great breakfast which included some of the best pancakes on the planet.

We then drove down the PCH and made our way to Mission San Gabriel. We toured the mission and the gardens. The mission was cool but there was a volunteer guide who spoke too loud and was generally obnoxious. We have now visited 5 missions - only 16 to go.

We continued on to Olvera Street. The market place and park was much more crowded then it was two weeks earlier. There were Dia De Los Muertos displays honoring dead relatives and children and adults alike were having their faces painted like skulls. Mariachis were playing and singing and the crowd were having a great time. I separated from the wife and 'J' and looked around the area while they shopped. The architecture is fascinating with buildings from the 1800s and the early 1900s. I found an interesting mural near the park, a real cool firehouse, and walked through the Dia de los Muertos exhibits at the Pico House. Along with the tributes to the family dead was a war memorial consisting of panels hung from the ceiling, their bottom edge resting a a box of sand, listing US Military casualties on one side and civilian casualties on the other.

We regrouped and moved on to Chinatown. We discovered that the main street was once part of historic route 66. We walked through the dragon gate and took in the sites. We had never been to Chinatown so late in the day and the crowds were small. There was a show starting in the little square where we saw the lion dance but it was getting late so we headed home. Here are some links to more pictures of Olvera Street, Chinatown, and Mission San Gabriel.

I Madonnari, the Mission, and Cambria

We made it to the I Maddonari festival in San Luis Obispo on Sunday. We fueled up at Denny's before we set out on the road. We arrived at the old Mission a couple hours later. The chalk artwork was a little disappointing. The quantity and quality just didn't live up to what we saw at last year's Santa Barbara I Madonnari. I guess Santa Barbara has a larger artist community.

We did have a chance to visit the mission. The wife and I have now visited four of the California Missions. We want to visit all of them before we return to the mid-west. More on this in a later post.

Cambria was as cool as ever. We ate tri-tip sandwiches at the Main Street Grill, did a little shopping, and just looked around. The fish at right are from a public bathroom. A nice artsy touch. We try to visit Cambria at least twice a year. Its a nice drive and it gets us out of the house. Topped the visit off with some ice cream (chocolate chip cookie dough) before we headed back.