Mission San Fernando, Rey de Espana

The second mission we visited on Wednesday, August 7, was Mission San Fernando. This mission was totally different from any mission we have visited so far. It was obvious from the first step that this mission had considerably more money to spend on its acquisitions and upkeep. The church is a replica of the former mission church and doesn't have the same feeling of the other mission churches we have visited. The Archival Center serves the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and is very formal and not very friendly. The museum is very large and quite extensive. It covers everything from a stamp of Father Junipero Serra to a room dedicated solely to statues, plaques, paintings and depictions of the Blessed Mother. This room is called the Madonna Room. The museum is filled with many beautiful things but there is no feeling of warmth in this mission.

The Bob Hope Memorial Garden is located here. Both Bob and Delores Hope are buried here as well as one of their sons and Mrs. Hope's mother. It's quite a lovely little garden. The story goes that when Mr. Hope was ill and his wife asked him where he would like her to bury him his reply was, "Surprise me."

The West Garden

Entrance to the mission church

The wine cellar entrance

The wine cellar - just a little dusty.

Bob Hope Memorial Garden

Bob Hope

And thus our visit to the Los Angeles area missions has ended. Our only other southern California mission is San Diego. With as much time as we spend in San Diego we can't quite figure out why we have never visited this mission. After San Diego it will be the Central Coast ~ San Buenaventura, Santa Barbara, Slovang, Lompoc and San Louis Obispoa

Mission San Gabriel Archangel

California Missions...

Between 1769 and 1823 there were twenty-one Spanish missions established along the coast of California. Each mission was designed to be about a day's journey from the next. The first mission was established in San Diego and the 21st mission was in Sonoma. Our goal is to visit all 21 missions. On Wednesday of this week we visited the mission San Fernando, Rey De Espana and Mission San Gabriel Archangel. These two missions are about 30 miles from each other in the greater Los Angles area but were established many years apart. The Mission San Gabriel was the 4th mission and established in 1771. Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana was the 17th mission and established in 1797.

These photos are from the Mission San Gabriel. It is a beautiful mission and great fun to visit. After exiting the gift shop we passed by the fountain and into the Campo Santo Cemetery. From there it was through the church, the winery, the corridor with interesting tools, and the gardens. A very beautiful mission, well restored, well kept, very interesting and most welcoming.

The Stations of the Cross were made in Talavera, Mexico

in 1939

 The church is the oldest of it's kind south of Monterey, Ca. The pulpit, on the right, is original. The main altar was made in Mexico City and brought here in the 1790's. 

These grape vines were planted in 1925.

This Crucifix was in the center of the gardens of the cemetery of the priests.

The walkway to the building where the wine was made.

At one time San Gabriel Mission was the largest winery in California.

Along the outside corridor there were many old tools.

Notice the hole at the bottom of the door for the cats to go in and out.

Gabrieleno Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians kiiy (house).

Mission San Garbiel Archangel

San Gabriel, California

Accross the street from the mission was this charming park called

The Grapvine park

Terra Cotta Horses

While visiting the Bowers Museum last week, we came upon these terra cotta horses from the early Ming Dynasty. A couple of years ago this museum had an exhibit from China of the Terra Cotta Warriors and it was great! I did get this picture of these two terra cotta horses (there are three but one is hidden). The lighting wasn't great and there were some distractions in the photo (an exit sign and an electrical box) that I managed to eliminate. Thank you Photoshop Elements! Then I discovered this UK company that creates these effects "Actions" that work in Photoshop Elements or the full blown BigBoy Photoshop. From them I downloaded, FOR FREE, this amazing action that turned my horses into this beautiful photo with bends, shadows, frames and everything! The company is PanosFX.com if there is anyone out there reading this who might be interested.

Day Trip!

There’s a lovely little museum in Santa Ana ~ The Bowers Museum. We’ve been there several times and have always enjoyed it. Yesterday we traveled there to see the exhibit “Gems of the Medici.” Lovely stuff but “NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED!” This has not been the rule with other exhibits we have visited but for some reason it is not allowed anymore. Ho hum. Charlie Canon had to stay in the bag and was not particularly happy about it! I did get a couple of nice shots outside but rather disappointing not to be able to capture the “Gems.” We also visited the “Tsar’s Cabinet,” an exhibit of dinnerware belonging to the Romanovs. Then there were was art of the Headhunters of the South Pacific and some very beautiful Chinese Art. And of course after that was dinner at The Olde Ship, a pub in Santa Ana. And all of this made for a lovely day except for the traffic. I have no idea where all of these people can be going but there are obviously too many people in California and they all own cars. It’s approximately 70 miles from Hemet to Santa Ana and the majority of those miles is freeway. We left Santa Ana at 4:15 pm and arrived home about 6:30 pm. Makes me just want to stay home!