We rose late on Saturday, as we had no time-constrained plans. Deborah had her leftovers, and I had cereal and shared a banana with Deborah. I made us coffee. We then spent most of the morning together. In the late morning, we boarded Air VW the Gray and headed to San Juan Capistrano to see the Mission we missed last time. The traffic was light but still had slow spots, even on Saturday late morning.
We paid for parking after we managed to get one of two parking places made available when folks pulled out as we pulled in. There was a van that got the other spot, and we all cheered each other. I used a parking app to pay. I have three on my phone, as it is safer to use them than the machine, as you never know if the machine worked (I learned to be more cautious after a $200 fee last time I missed a payment that did not complete in Portland).
We then walked into the Mission, paid $15 each, and got a recorded tour that we used maybe once or twice; mostly, we enjoyed the garden and reading the signs as we wished. I did not know that the founder of the mission, Junípero Serra, was declared a saint in 2015 by Pope Francis; the process began with the saint and Pope John Paul 2. It was a lovely, not-too-hot day for walking around the garden, full of cacti and succulents. Huge palm trees also graced the grounds and the sky. We walked the ruins (the main church was lost in the 1912 earthquake, killing many folks), and the tanner, kitchen, and other buildings are in ruins.
I was surprised to learn that the area was sold for a pittance to a family member of the governor, and that the church and community lost the land for years. The land was returned, again a surprise to me, by President Lincoln a month before his assassination in 1865. There is now a smaller church built into some of the remaining buildings; the museum houses some of the silver treasures from the original church.
It was a good day, but it would have been hard to do Los Rios and the Mission on the same day. This worked out well. We then headed across the street to Bloom Restruant for lunch. It was good as we were hungry and parched. We both had breakfast specials, and our server was excellent. He gave me the wrong breakfast (but the scrambled eggs were still good) and gave us a free dessert for the mistake. I meant to give him a large tip, but miscalculated and gave him a very large tip. He earned it.
We stopped next at the antique barn as Deborah wanted to check it out. And as often happens, I spotted an item that I wanted. They had a receipt from Adams Express, a local carrier I collect (I am a stamp collector and a specialized one), and I purchased it for too much money, but for less than what the same item goes for on eBay (plus CA tax). There were some other unusual items, but I don’t collect currency or coins. I like stamps from about 1840 to 1939, known as the classic period.
Next, with my purchase paid for and explained (nobody there knew what it was), we headed to the Friends of the Library bookstore. There, I spent $2 on a book by Erik Larson, and Deborah found one as well. We do not seem to resist freeing books.
Aside: The remnants of the Adams Express & Company still exist here. The current price for the local stamps used in the 1800s is here. We also visited a tourist store, where I found a book about the missions. I was disappointed with the Mission’s store, as it had no copies of the original writings by the people who built the mission or worked there. I will track some down as they were mentioned in the exhibits. I was happy to find something.
Ebisy Life Store was next on our list. We had passed by the place last week and wondered what it was. It is a large, colorful store of Japanese and Asian items, including food, health products, toys, and collectibles. Deborah was overwhelmed and called her sons to see what they might want. She picked out a few easy-to-travel items to take back to Michigan.
After that, we parked for 50 minutes at In-N-Out Burger to charge the EV. It was done to 30%, and there were decent 250kW chargers there that were not as expensive as the 305kW and about as fast. We got diet soda drinks while we waited and used their facilities.
We drove back to the Hyatt, parked the EV, and had dinner at the bar; it was Friday night, and the other places had long waits. There, we ordered from the menu, and I sent my pasta meal back (the pasta was all glued together). Our server, “Cat,” had it remade at no charge (I left another large tip).
After that, I returned to write this blog. We are up early tomorrow to catch the rope-drop at the Park.
I was disappointed that
Thanks for reading!
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