Our mission today was to visit Spanish Missions. The first was San Diego de Alcala, near the port town of Lorreto, on the western shore of the California peninsula. (Mexican California, of course). This was a quick stop. You see the original church (circa 1650) with a new bell tower. (The original bell tower was damaged in an earthquake). I can personally vouch for the bells correctly clanging out the time.

Here’s an interior pick. Mexicans worship in and love these old churches. They don’t have a lot of money. We wouldn’t call the churches pristine. But the structures and decorations are all in good shape. The circle of blue light is a modern addition. LED lights appear to encircle Jesus.

The highlight was the Javier Vigge Biaumdo mission. This was located due east, near the east coast of California. To get there, we took a 45-minute bus ride through some fairly extreme mountains. The road was paved, but narrow with plenty of switchbacks, tight turns, and drop-offs — many of which had no guard rail. This mission is about 100 years newer than San Diego de Alcala. It’s located at one of the largest oasis in California.

Once a year, they have a huge celebration at this mission. People come from all around the area, mostly riding horses. Some folks are so distant that it takes 2 weeks to complete their horse ride. The road connecting the two missions is 700 years old. Back in the day, it took two days to ride between these two missions. The Jesuits built a “half way” house. It’s nothing but a small building. We didn’t stop there, but the door was open. I saw many decorations, flowers, etc, all in good shape. The building is obviously visited frequently. Here’s the inside of the mission church.

This mission was the first to plant grapes in America. They original grape tree is still there. This provided the first wine made in America. They still produce wine today.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We visited El Serpentine. It’s a site dedicated to preservation of endemic species, especially those species who are endangered. Our tour guide was Marcos.

The strangest critter we say looks like a worm. It isn’t a worm because it has two front legs and worms don’t have legs.

This center started out with a friendship between a local and a US citizen in San Diego. The US guy had money. Both shared a passion for reptiles. Together they partnered the San Diego Zoo to provide their expertise in animal care and exhibit structures. The US citizen visited Mexico and disappeared. The Mexican authorities couldn’t find what happed to him. The FBI came to La Pax and were equally unproductive. The US family withdrew the money. Today, this is a 100% volunteer organization. The Mexican owner is retired and has enough of a pension that he doesn’t need an income. His full time efforts go towards education and preservation. Our guide was one of the volunteers working at the site.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Our first stop is a tender port. It looks beautiful at night …

… and impressive during the day.

These rocks are famous.

If you aren’t into diving, deep sea fishing, or the Senor Frog bar, that’s about it. We also found the soup kitchen. I did not take pictures.

We had lots of fun with JaMMM. Hiding under bedsheets can be so much fun it’s literally a screem.

Reading is always a winner.

The ball pit was a real blast.

The surprise winner was a gravity well demonstration. It kept everybody in stiches for half an hour. I was too busy retrieving marbles to get a pic. Here’s one from the internet so you can know the very best way to entertain two kids under 4 for a good long time,.

All good things must end. We arrived at our hotel in LA just a short while ago. Tomorrow we start a 10-day cruise to Mexico!

We arrived in San Diego yesterday without a serious incident. We are visiting Mark & family through Tuesday. Traffic and parking in San Diego can be brutal. Danita’s hope to use the pool has evaporated. Rain and cool weather is forecast for several days. As they say, you know you live in a desert if a rainy day makes you smile.

It’s time to bid a fond farewell to Tucson. Tomorrow we fly to San Diego.

We visited a wagon museum this morning. It was quite entertaining. We saw everything from rough cargo wagons to luxurious carriages for rich folks. And of course, we saw more than one surrey with a fringe on top.

While we were waiting for the bus to take us to the museum, Danita noticed a neon sign. It was the sign that got Tucson to amend their sign law. Here it is, (The building is no longer a motel.)

We spent the afternoon doing laundry and packing. I hope this finds everyone doing well.

Sometimes quirky can be a lot of fun. We visited the Ignite Museum of Signs. Their focus is on Neon signs, most of which actually use Argon. We saw all manor of signs — working, not working, large, small, and in all colors.

They have a few interesting things that aren’t signs. Here’s Danita with a Bendix TV. (Danita used to work for Bendix.)

When Neon signs were new, Tucson had a stretch of road they called the “Miracle Mile” that was loaded with flashing signs. Locals were proud of it, until Life Magazine did an article and called it the ugliest mile. Tucson wanted to get those signs off the road. They passed a law that once a sign was taken down, it couldn’t be put it back up. A couple of lawyers wanted to renovate a sign for a motel and sued Tucson. The law was amended to allow re-installation of signs if a duly appointed committee agreed the sign was of historic interest and would be appropriately renovated. Today, a few of the Miracle Mile signs are still up and working.

Our other activity was the Tucson Art Museum. It had some interesting surrealistic paintings, including a Dali.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We visited the local science center. It’s a lot smaller than the blockbuster science centers found in larger cities, but they did a nice job with the space they have. We especially enjoyed a video of the mission that collected samples of an asteroid and safely returned them to Earth. The entire 20-year mission was lead by the University of Arizona. The mission isn’t over. Scientists will try to do a fly-by of another asteroid. Several school groups were visiting the science center while we were there. The biggest impact on is us was that the planetarium shows weren’t available to the general public, so I didn’t get my science center nap.

Our other activity was in the evening. We saw Cronan the Barbarian at the Gaslight Theater. This wasn’t typical theater. The audience was encouraged to cheer the good guys, boo the bad guys, sing along, and say Arrrg with the pirates. Jokes were really bad, and spirits were high. Food was available for those who wanted it. Everybody got a large bag of popcorn. Free ice cream was given to folks with a birthday, anniversary, or from out of state. It was a riot of fun.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Danita was checking our next hotel, an Embassy Suites in San Diego. She found that the pool is closed. She planned the trip so she could do her pool exercises. It didn’t work here in Tucson because the pool is there and it is heated, but it’s only 3 feet deep. The combination of cool temperatures and a shallow pool made it impractical to use the pool. So she was doubly interested in the pool at Embassy Suites. Ans seriously miffed that she wouldn’t be able to use the pool. Again. After considering our options, we decided to cancel our reservation at Embassy Suites and stay at another hotel which, hopefully, has a working pool more than 3 feet deep.

In the mean time, we’re still in Tucson. Just about everything is closed for the holiday. That didn’t bother us. We went to the Jazz Festiva, an outdoor venue of jazz music. It’s a lot of fun. Here’s a pic of the crowd. See if you can spot Danita. ;-)

We stopped at a bakery on the way home to get an after-dinner treat. We were surprised to see the bakery also had (excellent) gelato. What could we do? We limited ourselves to just one single dip each.

I hope this finds everyone doing well.