Sunday, August 31, 2014

End of Summer



I used to give myself a hard time when I didn't get any good photos from my weekly photo session. Now I am more lenient. I just enjoy those beautiful places and feel grateful for the good time.  

Whale Bones at Seymour Marine Discovery Center





Saturday, August 23, 2014

Mission Santa Cruz



Looking at Mission Santa Cruz from the gate of Holy Cross Church.

Since my last visit to Mission San Juan Bautista and saw the map of the 21 California Missions, I decided to put visiting the California Missions on my todo list. Over the years, I had visited 5 of them (they are Mission Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, San Jose, Carmel, and San Juan Bautista). I found the one that was nearest to me (yet I hadn't visited) was Mission Santa Cruz, so today, with my GPS in hand, I paid it a visit. I was surprised that it was right at the junction of 17 and Hwy 1 and I actually drove by it every time I went to Santa Cruz!

From the history of Mission Santa Cruz, it seems to be a Mission with bad Feng Shui. It got burned down right after it was founded and soon the priest was brutally killed by the Indians. Today, a newer, bigger Catholic Holy Cross Church (in Gothic Revival style) was built on its site and the Mission is only a half sized replica of the original.