The day after Carol’s party we had planned on heading to Legoland in Carlsbad, California. I was up and ready to go quite early, but Jim slept in. As a matter of fact he slept so long that about every half hour, I’d Google a new place to go that was just a little closer to the hotel we were staying in and still get us back to Irvine when Chris and Carol got home from work. We ended up going to the Mission at San Juan Capistrano after Jim woke up around noon .
The mission was established in 1776 in an effort to spread the Catholic faith and tradition to the Native Americans. Some of the buildings show extensive restoration but much of the mission still stands as it was. While admission to the mission included using an audio tour, Jim and I declined and explored completely on our own. We might have missed out on some of the history, but got to look at exactly what interested us. For us, this was the old architecture and the plant life.
Bells and some of the older ruins at San Juan Capistrano
I could just imagine monks wandering through these covered walkways
Having been raised a Catholic but not a practicing Catholic now, I was disturbed only by the fact that the traditional area of candles that one can light for the souls of the dead had been changed to a gift shop purchase rather than an area where one could insert coins in a donation box to light a candle. While I am no longer a practicing Catholic, some rites still stick with me and I would have liked to light a candle for my mother who would have appreciated having a candle lit for her. It angered me that such a simple thing had become a commercial thing complete with the signs that said “Please do not touch the candles. Candles may be purchased in the gift shop”.
Candles Could Only Be Purchased In The Gift Shop
The gardens were positively beautiful and had a wide range of wonderful plants that were both familiar to us and completely unfamiliar. Unfortunately my allergies were very familiar to me and the familiar plants attacked with a vengeance. Of course, I did spend about 14 years living with a cat that I was outrageously allergic to, so I didn’t let the sneezing and sniffles bother me much. Jim only says “Bless you” if I sneeze in groups of 4 times or more. I use this as a gauge to see if I’m going to have a bad allergy attack. It’s weird, but it works.
A Prickly Pear plant in bloom
June Cornish
May 31, 2010 at 3:08 pm
I understand your frustration concerning the candles, but try to understand that probably a lot of people were using them, without paying – and the mission place needs that not only to pay for the candles, themselves, but also to support the upkeep of the mission place, itself. Sounds like you had a wonderful time and thanks so much for posting the photos!
Pax Cristi,
June