Mission San Diego de Alcala

Chapel: Mission San Diego de Alcala

During Christmas Break Andy and I went to Mission San Diego de Alcala. Mission San Diego was the first mission established in California. It was established in 1769 by Friar Junipero Serra. It is known as the Mother of the Missions it is also Basilica.

Friar Serra

At the site there is a chapel, gardens, a museum, and of course a gift shop. The local parish still uses this site as a chapel and  we were able to observe people arriving for mass. We have no pictures of the inside of the chapel because of this. The chapel was beautiful, ornate, and very old. Because it was Christmas time there were red poinsettias throughout the grounds as decorations.

Bell Tower

We were able to observe the beautiful gardens and  hummingbirds flitting about.

A garden resident

The museum told the history of the mission and again, I was surprised that the Mormon Battalion had stopped here as part of their march.
 The mission begins the El Camino Real (The Royal Road) now known as Hwy. 101 and is part of the La Playa Trail the oldest commercial trail in the Western US. The trail connects the missions to each other and stretches from San Diego to San Francisco, There are 21 missions in all, each about a days travel from each other. The nearest one to us is San Juan Capistrano, which I hope to be able to go see soon.

Christmas 2012

Christmas Eve Feast

We spent Christmas here in San Diego. This Christmas was one of many firsts for us. We were apart from our families for the first time. We did not have a Christmas tree (due to space limitations) and there was no snow in site. (Major Plus!!!) The Christmas tree was replaced by a snowman shaped card holder. As you can see we received many cards from friends and loved ones and we were grateful each one.

 Christmas Eve was spent watching various Christmas movies on TV. For Dinner we had spinach stuffed tortellini, olive oil seared chicken breasts with Alfredo sauce, and twisty bread sticks. After dinner we held a special Christmas Eve Family home evening where we listened to Christmas carols and read the various accounts of Christ's birth. It was very peaceful.

Christmas Morning Loot

We awoke late on Christmas morning to see that we had brought each other a few presents. I got a necklace holder with a new necklace, an i-tunes gift card, and some chocolate bars. Andy got the new batman movie set and some chocolate of his own. We both also received new phones but we bought them in November as part of Black Friday weekend. Andy's  is a Droid DNA and mine is a I-phone.

If this Christmas had a theme it would have to be food. I am not sure who was I cooking for, but I made a breakfast casserole and put out an assortment of yummy snack foods to munch on throughout the day.  My mother would have been proud.

Christmas Day Buffet

The best part of the day was talking with our families over the phone and skype. It is hard to believe that my nieces and nephews are growing up so fast. I am grateful to be part of such great families. I hope you all had a Christmas a great as mine was this year.

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia

As a history lover, I have been learning about California's history.  In  the late 1700's the Spanish began settling  California by establishing missions.

The basic idea of the missions was to send a priest to claim the land and convert the native Indians to Christianity in an effort to protect the Spanish strategic interest to the Pacific Ocean from the Russians

The last surviving original bell

We went to see Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in Oceanside.
 This particular mission was founded in 1798. As we toured the mission we were surprised to learn that the Mormon Battalion had stopped and stayed at the mission for a few weeks in late 1846. While they were there they helped clean and repair things. There is a plaque to the Battalion at the Mission. This mission is known as the king of the missions because it is one of the largest.

Ruins

  There are 21 missions scattered through out California. San Diego county is the only county in California to have two missions.
The mission site features a museum, the old chapel, the new parish chapel, a cemetery, ruins, gardens and of course a gift shop.

It was fascinating to walk around the grounds. There are beautiful gardens, an ancient chapel (which we could not go into as it was being retrofitted) and many arches and ruins to see. For the nominal fee of $10 we were able to wander around to our heart's content and see all there was to see. I like self guided tours the best, you never miss anything and you are never board.

Oldest pepper tree in CA. Circa 1830

Garden courtyard

Christmas at the San Diego Temple

San Diego Temple

 As part of it's holiday traditions the temple strings hundreds of lights and puts up multiple nativity scenes on the lawns every night in December.

 Andy and I went to see the show the evening of  December 16. When we arrived at the temple, it was drizzling slightly which only made the lights look more dazzling and beautiful. It also made it feel more wintery.

It was hardly even cold to us, but the people who we ran into were dressed like they were visiting Temple Square. They wore hats, gloves, and heavy winter coats. There were some elder couple missionaries on site to answer questions and take pictures. It was a lot of fun. In honor of the winter spirit, we went home and had hot chocolate.

Me and Andy

Temple and Nativity

32

December 4, 2012 was a typical Tuesday for most people on the planet. For me it was my 32nd birthday. I received many well wishes via Facebook and text messages all day long. A few of the local ladies gave me small gifts and I even received a few cards. It is always nice to know people care about the events of your life.

Andy had worked the entire previous weekend so he was able to take Tuesday off and spend the day with me doing what I wanted to do. Being with him was a great birthday present because it was unexpected.

Andy: Drafted into the Mormon Battalion

Off we went to Old Town San Diego to the Mormon Battalion site. As luck would have it we were the only people who took the tour that afternoon so we got all the perks of a private tour and they let us park our car at the site so we did not have to pay to park. There was an art exhibit by Liz Lemon Swindle on display at the site that we were able to enjoy as well.
Old Town is full of handicraft shops and historical buildings we wandered in and out of shops until our feet hurt. We then headed down to downtown San Diego where we had dinner on the water at the Fish Market. It was delicious!!

 The weekend prior to my birthday Andy and I went to the local Ford dealership and picked out my Birthday/ Christmas/ Anniversary present. A 2013 Ford Focus with all the bells and whistles. The car can communicate with my phone through a system called Sync so I can make phone calls and play my music files from my phone through the car. It even has turn by turn navigation, a feature that is super helpful as I make my way around a new place.

Having a car has given me back my mobility, I now have a choice whether to leave the house or not.

New Car!!!

Birthday Dinner

  I have been fortunate to have a husband who makes sure I have good birthdays but I am not sure how he is going to top this one. Maybe I will stop celebrating after this one, go out with a bang. What else could a girl ask for? I had a full day with my husband, unlimited wandering, a seafood dinner, and a new car. Truly, I have been blessed. It was a great birthday. 

Thanksgiving

 La Jolla Cove

Surf

I spent the majority of November being sick with viral bronchitis so our weekend adventures were placed on hold. I was just starting to feel better and get my voice back the week of Thanksgiving.

There is nothing worse than being sick, knowing there is so much you are missing out on because you have to stay in bed. By the time I felt better I was feeling stir crazy and had to get out of the house.

 
Andy and I spent Thanksgiving at the beach.The weather was beautiful. We started the day at La Jolla Cove where we saw seals and sea lions. The seals were so fun to watch. It seemed like they knew we were watching them and they would ham it up for the camera.

Sea Lion Salute

The seals were everywhere, they were in the water, they were sunning themselves on the rocks and sliding in and out of the water. When we were walking along the beach seals kept coming up onto the beach. It was amazing to me that they would come so close to people. The sea lions were so animated, they were barking and playing, splashing each other. It just felt unreal that the animals were so close to us. In my opinion it was better than Sea World and it was free.
Andy took so many pictures at La Jolla cove that he ran the battery out so we have no pictures of the rest of the day.
  
Earlier in the week, my Aunt Dorothy had called to let me know she was going to be in town for the holiday. This was an unexpected treat for me to be able to spend time with some of my family.

Seal in the Surf

Harbor Seal

We met up with them at Silver Stand State Beach where they were camping. We shared slices of various pies and visited for a few hours. It was great because it was totally unexpected that we would get to spend time with any family for our first out-of state holiday season.

 As we headed home we were able to observe the holiday lights at the Hotel Del Coronado and on various houses throughout the city.


Andy had the next day off so we were able to spend some time together. It was great that he did not have to immediately go back to work.

 On Sunday we had a ham dinner with all the trimmings. Mashed potatoes, stuffing, and green beans. We even had cherry and pumpkin pie for dessert. Yum!

Harvest Festival

The first weekend in November Andy and I went to Del Mar for the Harvest Festival. This event had been billed as the largest craft fair in Southern California and boy did the event live up to the hype!

One of the Arenas

Every man I've ever known has been less than excited by tole painting, wooden vinyl signs, and various other handicrafts and knickknacks. Andy is no exception however, he gamely accompanied me and oood and ahhed at the socially appropriate times or when prompted to by me. He was a good sport.

As we were purchasing our tickets a woman in the next line over asked if we had coupons for 2 dollars off admission (we didn't) and she gave us some so we saved $4 before we even got in. :)

When attending an event of this scale, it is important to maintain stamina. After purchasing smoothies we were ready to browse all the Festival had to offer. The event was housed in two large arenas and their accompanying courtyards. There were booths for literally miles. It was Awesome!

Andy and some famous Horses

After browsing for hours and ranking our favorites, we had narrowed it down to 3 items for possible purchase.
1) A sign that spelled our last name out in pictures
2) A bank made from old apartment mailboxes
3) Something Celtic (Always a favorite of mine)



The best part of craft shows for me is talking with the artists about their art. I am not crafty so I have to admire and purchase instead of participate. Andy was born artistic and crafty so many times as I admired someone's handiwork he would say, "I can make that for you." I take these claims seriously, as he has often times made me something after I have admired it.  Maybe it is his DNA, I don't know, but there is not much Andy cannot do.

I was rooting for the bank, because it was unusual, and I thought it would be a good conversation starter. Andy correctly pointed out that it is rare for anyone to come over so I needed a stronger reason to buy "an old mailbox".

The Loot

 This picture does not do these justice. Each symbol is made from folded Japanese paper. The woman who made them explained the process and showed us how she folds the paper. She told us about herself and how she got into Japanese paper folding and she showed us other paper materials she was working with.

She was fascinating to speak with. The patterns which originally drew me to her booth were classic quilt block patterns. Her work was beautiful. It is very intricate and it was affordable. I could not believe that her pieces were not priced higher so we snapped up the three pieces shown here.

As we headed home from the Festival we stopped at Torrey Pines State Beach. It was practically deserted as it was overcast and we were able to find a parking place on the road, where is is free. We watched the sunset and went home to have some dinner. There is something about the ocean that is very restorative and calming. I always enjoy going even if it is only for a short time.