I LOVE road trips! Just hopping in the car and taking off is what I consider an ideal weekend. Tiana, Howard and I decided this past weekend to take a trip to Solvang, which is a small Dutch town an hour or two away from Santa Barbara. The landscape this time of year is beautiful and I was pretty stoked to spend my last official weekend exploring before the retail holiday monster rears it's ugly head. Yup, I have 4 days off, TOTAL, until January 1st. (not including Thanksgiving, which doesn't really count since I have to be in my store at 5 am the next day.) But I digress...
We intended to get an early start and make it to Solvang by early afternoon....didn't happen. We ended up in San Luis Obispo which is about 3 hours away from San Jose. Howard and I were supposed to meet Madalene and her Howard for dinner, so after a (too brief) Starbucks run, we started to head back to San Jose. We spotted a sign for the San Juan Bau
tista mission, and decided to stop there to take a look around. This church is located in a quaint little town surrounded by beautiful rolling hills and farmland. The mission itself was gorgeous and had a reverent stillness that I could not possibly catch on camera. I did make an attempt to capture the beauty and essence of this historic landmark. WARNING: The pictures are slightly grainy due to the lack of good lighting and distance between me and the object I was photographing. Enjoy!
front of church
Candles were lit by some fellow travelers
Courtyard across from church
Beautiful original wrought-iron light fixture
Original plaza and stables across from church
Fountain in church courtyard
statue of priest who built the mission
Church bells
Cemetery of Unmarked Graves
Me and Fluffie (Howard's dog)
Tiana and Fluffie
