Mission San Luis Rey de Francia

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia is huge! This mission has become the largest of the 21 Spanish Missions. The mission was founded by Padre Fermin Lasuen on June 13, 1798. Father Fray Junipero Serra founded 9 of the missions, but not this one! Mission San Luis Rey de Francia is the 18th in all the chain and was named after the Spanish King Louis the 10th. This mission is dedicated to St. Louis. The nickname of the mission is similar to Mission Basilica San Diego de Acalá it is “King of the Missions”. One thing I leaned is the Spanish where trying to teach the natives about Jesus because they wanted them to become Christian, but the Indians did not speak Spanish so the padres made little figures of people that they were teaching them all about. I saw the cemetery too! We went into this garden area and the people of the mission call it the quiet place. This is where the Padres read, pray and think. There is a pepper tree and it was planted in 1830. The pepper tree came from Peru.

Mission San Juan Capistrano

Mission San Juan Capistrano is so pretty! It was also really huge like Mission San Luis Rey, maybe a little bigger. We almost got lost, like literally. It was founded on November 1, 1776. Mission San Juan Capistrano was founded twice; once by Padre Fermin Lasuen. A year later the second man that founded Mission San Juan Capistrano was Padre Fray Junípero Serra. Now that is cool! The mission is so pretty that people now call it “The Jewel of the Missions” and hey that is this mission’s nickname! This mission is the 7th of all the missions! The church was proudly called Serra Chapel, but in 1797 the priests at Mission San Juan Capistrano dreamed up a new church structure. An enormous stone church with soaring ceilings, seven domes, and walls up to six feet thick in places. Now it is in ruins. One thing I leaned was a lot of swallows live around here. Swallow birds leave to migrate in early September and they come back March 19th. Another thing I learned from all the missions so far is that some stuff is the same as back then and some stuff is totally different compared to now.

Mission San Gabriel Archángel

Mission San Gabriel Arcángel is also know as the “Pride of the Missions” (which is its nickname). It was founded on September 8, 1771 by Junipero Serra, this is one of the nine missions he has founded. Mission San Gabriel was first founded on a bank of the Santa Ana River. Then the priests immediately moved it to dry land. It is now placed in the San Gabriel Valley. It was moved 4.5 miles (7 km) to its present site in 1775. Mission Gabriel is the 4th of the 21 Missions. This mission has two cemeteries and the cemeteries are big! Now this mission is small, not like the other ones which were huge! If you were to pass by it you would probably think it is just a church. It had really pretty gardens and plants. This particular mission was dedicated to The Arcángel Gabriel who is an angel from the Bible. There are beautiful archways like long hallways, but with open areas. I have noticed that most and probably all of the missions have them and some are really long!

Mission San Fernando Rey de España

Mission San Fernando Rey de España was great! This is the only mission so far that is two stories high! The mission was founded by Father Fermin Lasuen with the help of Father Fray Francisco Dumetz. They both founded it on September 8, 1797. It is dedicated to Saint Ferdinand. This is the 17th mission. Fun fact: There’s a mission cat that eats all the mice and rats. Good job mission cat. The rats were so big that they look like opossums! In some of the the door ways there are little holes so that the cat come and go as it pleases. If you look at an angle the mission floors go down. The natives would wash their feet then they would go stomp grapes and make wine. The wine was not just used to drink, but they used it for food, medicine, massing, and trading. They traded the wine for things they can’t make because back then they made all the stuff they needed. They used iron, clay, and wood to make all of their stuff. All the books in the library were hand written. Must of took a long time. There is a flower shaped fountain on the east garden and on the west garden there it’s a statue of Fray Fermin Francisco De Lasuen. All of the doorways and even a carriage were small because back then the people weren’t as tall as we are today. All of the doorways have painted arches above them.

Mission San Buenaventura

Mission San Buenaventura was founded by Father Junípero Serra. Father Junípero Serra founded the mission on March 31, 1782. This is the 9th mission. The natives who live around the area were the Chumash. The men in the tribe would make adobe bricks, help out the animals, and grow crops. The women made clothes, wove baskets, and prepared the food. Now the children would help their parents and the other adults with their chores. The mission’s nickname is “Mission by the Sea”. As you walk into the plaza the first thing you would probably think is there is a lot of plants! The plaza is still really pretty. My family and I went into the plaza and then into a small room, then we went out and that was the whole mission. It was really small. Everything was destroyed except for the church. How they would make olive oil: Well, first they would put olives in a round thing called The olive press and then they would turn it and make olive oil. In a case there are wooden bells with metal plates inside of them. These are they only wooden bells at the California Missions.

Mission Santa Barabara

Mission Santa Barbara was the best so far! That is where a girl named Karana from Island of The Blue Dolphins is buried. From my hotel room I can see the real Island Of The Blue Dolphins (where Karana lived). The people of the mission don’t know where she is buried. When all of the natives and Karana came to California the padres gave them a Spanish name. Karana became Juana Maria. Even though we don’t know where she’s buried, there is a plaque about her. The cemetery also has three skulls and crossbones on the wall above the church door. Two of the skulls are real! This mission was founded on December 4, 1786, by Father Fermín Lasuén. This is the 10th mission to be founded. Mission Santa Barbara has a wonderful nickname, it is the “Queen of the Missions”. The native tribe that was around that area is the Chumash tribe once again. There was a really bad earthquake in 1925 and the whole mission came down. Then people were building up the mission and finished in 1926 and reopened it in 1927. In front of the mission there is a large fountain and a place to wash clothes. There is also a large cross and lots of beautiful plants. We even saw a grapevine from 1800.

Mission La Purisima Concepción

Mission La Purisima Concepción was founded on December 8, 1787 by Father Fermin de Lasuén, making it the 11th mission. It is unique because it is a state historic park. There is another mission that is a historic state park and that is Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma. This mission is so large and outdoorsy. They have about 2,000 acres of land! In some of that land they have animals! They have pigs, horses, sheep, a goat, and a giant bull with really long horns. There were also some wild animals like some cotton tailed rabbits, a lot of quail, and just one deer all alone. There were two fountains, and then there was one other looking thing kind of like a pool. That pool is were the natives did their laundry, and yes the natives did do laundry. Most of the inside of the buildings is were certain types of people lived and what their rooms looked like. This is the only mission that looks exactly like it did back in the 1800’s, because when the earthquake happened people wanted it to look the exact same. When it went down the Civilian Conservation Crops (CCC) helped rebuild it. In front the mission and church it was the original El Camino Real, also know as The Kings Road. The inside of the church is empty, there are no chair inside to sit and prey. The other churches that we went to there were funerals and people praying. The reason this church is not running anymore is because the others churches are operated by the Catholic Church and this one is run by park rangers. I have a lot of family that lives in this area. You can hike from my great aunt’s house to the mission.

Mission Santa Inés

Mission Santa Inés has a beautiful view from the front of it. You can see a big field. We even went down to that field. There was a cemetery and one of the headstones was really pretty because it had shells all over it. They don’t know exactly where the people were buried but they put headstones anyway. They did know that people were buried there. So we probably walked right above them. Father Estévan Tapís founded Mission Santa Inés on September 17th, 1804. This is one of the very last missions to be founded. It is placed in the middle of the Chumash tribe’s area. So it is the 19th mission. We saw a cotton tailed rabbit again. The aches broke down but the first 10. For a long time there was a big gap between the 10th and the 19th. Then they fixed it all back up. So the first 10 arches are the original arches. There once was a native girl that was Christian. Her name was Pasquala. She was taken by the other part of her tribe that were against her church. She overheard people saying they want to have war! She then escaped and ran to the beloved mission and warned Padre Francisco. She said “PADRE! PADRE! WAR! WAR!”. So all of the people at the mission got ready to defend. The natives set fire on part of the mission, but the rest was saved.

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa was founded by Father Junípero Serra on September 1, 1772. Mission Carmel and Mission San Antonio were not in good shape, so Father Junípero Serra marched down from Monterey and founded Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa. This makes it the 5th mission. The Chumash tribe lived in this area just like Mission Buenaventura, Mission Santa Barbara, Mission La Purisima and Mission Santa Inés. One thing that I learned is that the Chumash tribe is huge! Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa has a lot of their stuff that they used back then. We even got to see their jewelry and arrowheads from the Chumash. The original mission bells that the mission had are lost, but there are three replica bells in the plaza. They call them the Joy Bell, Gloria Bell and Sorrow Bell. Then they have five more resent bells hanging in the church. Mission bells are very important to all of the California Missions. I liked that Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa has them all over the place. The original mission doors don’t lead anywhere anymore, but they are on display in the museum. Fun fact: My great-grandpa Cook helped rebuild the mission’s adobe bricks.

Mission San Miguel Arcángel

Mission San Miguel Arcángel was beautiful! It was founded on July 25, 1797, by Father Fermín Lasuen. This is the 16th mission. They put the mission here because they wanted to make it a halfway point between Mission San Luis Obispo and Mission San Antonio. I went there in second grade with my dad on the way back from our backpacking trip. I was siting on the fountain in second grade and we recreated that picture on this trip. The olive press at Mission San Miguel was different than the one at Mission Buenaventura. The one there was round and the one at Mission San Miguel is a press, like a large screw. A lot of Mission San Miguel wasn’t rebuilt so most of it is the same as it was originally. The Salinan tribe was in this area. Many lived and worked at Mission San Miguel.

Mission San Antonio de Padua

Mission San Antonio de Padua was founded by Father Junípero Serra on July 14th, 1771. This makes it the 3rd mission. There is a huge olive tree in front of the mission planted by the Padres in 1836. Instead of glass they used sheep skin to cover their windows, which was common back then. They also made little bags out of pig skin to hold their wine. Also, there was a big pear tree, but it is not anymore. Inside they just have a stomp of it left to display. In every mission there is a replica of the mission. This is my dad’s favorite mission and I really like it too. I liked all of the missions. In the gift shop I got a book about a native girl named Pasquala. There was an old cat named Rosario “The Holy Cat” that we met five years ago at Mission San Antonio. He was the mission cat, but he died in September of 2017. Now his niece and nephew are there as the new mission cats. Their names are Joy and Hope. They are both black like their uncle and are about six months old.

Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad

Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad was founded on October 9, 1791. They fully resorted it on October 9, 1955. It is the 13th Mission. It is known as the “the lady of loneliness”. It was founded by Father Fermin Lasuen. Mission Soledad is very small and none of it is original. In the church you see mother Mary dressed in all black because she is sad that her son died. This makes sense because the mission’s name is “our lady of loneliness”. The natives that lived around the area were Salinan, same as Mission San Antonio and Mission San Miguel, but there were Ohlone and Esselan people there too. Buried in the cemetery are a Spanish governor and a Padre. There is a really cool fountain with moss and goldfish inside. The last Mexican governor of Alta California wrote a note to a family saying they own the mission. The family bought it for $800 pesos. In 1828 there was a flood that ruined the whole mission, which is why it was restored.

Mission San Carlos Borromeo del río Carmelo

Mission San Carlos Borromeo del río Carmelo was founded on June 3, 1770 by Father Junípero Serra. This makes it the 2nd mission after Mission San Diego. This mission is dedicated to Saint Charles Borromeo and it’s nickname is “The Father of the Alta California Missions”. This is were Father Junípero Serra and Father Fermín Lasuen are buried. Father Serra wanted to be buried here because this was his favorite mission. They are buried in the front of the church. Now there was not much to the mission back in the 1770’s. They abandoned it in 1834 and years later in 1852 the roof collapsed. So then they rebuild it in 1884. A guy named Harry Downie stared to build it again in the 1930’s. The mission was good again! The mission had so many pretty plants. I loved it! It was very beautiful. The mission looked really old. Inside the church I lit a candle and said a prayer. There was abalone in the crosses on the cemetery. The abalone represents the Esselen people, who lived at the mission. In the winter they would eat berries and in the summer they would eat seafood. The church is a basilica like San Diego. The mission has a prayer garden and a Junípero Serra circle memorial, which are both special. We enjoyed this mission a lot.

Mission San Juan Bautista

Mission San Juan Bautista was founded on June 24, 1797 by Padre Lasuén. This was the 15 mission founded. This mission was built because it fills in the gap between Mission San Carlos and Mission San Santa Clara. The bad thing is that people built the mission right on top of a place that has a lot of earthquakes, so the building would often break down. This mission is known for their music. Inside there is a room of music. Mission San Juan Bautista is known for their music because Padre Presidente brought his love of music to the mission. He even started an Indian choir! Rumor say that his choir once stopped an Indian raid with the power of song. The mission area has a lot, like a lot, of buildings to see! Like the church, old jail, stables, houses, and the plaza hotel! There is also a big grass area to run around in. Fun fact: Mission San Juan Bautista is one of the few missions that was founded and is still active since it was founded. This church is the only mission church with three aisles. There is a mission cat named Sula! She sadly has no ears though. My papa, joined my family and I on this trip! My favorite part is this little trail we went down. It used to be part of El Camino Real.

Mission Santa Cruz

Mission Santa Cruz was founded on August 28, 1791, by Father Lasuén. This is the 12 mission along the El Camino Real. The mission’s nickname is “ THE HARD LUCK MISSION”. The reason it is called the hard luck mission is because, well they had hard luck! The padres first had it in one spot and two years later they had to move the mission to where it is now because there was flooding in that area. There were many different kinds of diseases. The diseases swepted through the mission. Next to the mission was a cosino. The natives suck out at night so they could go to the cosino. When they got back they were punished by the padres. One Padre was so bad that natives killed him! Eek! Just like other missions natives had lots of cattle and sheep. They use wol from the sheep to make blankets. From the cows they used their fat to make tallow and this was used to make soap and candles. From the rawhide they made stuff out of leather. One of the natives said there were a lot of cattle in the grass and many bears would sit on the hill eating to see if they could eat any cattle. There was lots of plants there. The tallest one was the trees! There was hole inside one of the trees and I stuck my head in there. All of the flowers were so pretty! Here were so many different kinds of flowers there were even California poppies. Man, such a small mission can give you a lot of information.

Mission Santa Clara de Asís

Mission Santa Clara de Asís was founded on January 12, 1777 by Padre Junípero Serra. This makes it the 8th mission founded. The mission is named after Saint Clare of Assisi. She started an order (group) in the Catholic Church called the Poor Clares. These ladies lived in poverty and helped people whenever they could. They still have some of the adobe buildings but the church has been completely rebuilt. It is really pretty there and the mission and church are on the Santa Clara University campus... and who knows, I might go there some day in the future!

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose was founded on June 11, 1797 by Padre Lasuén. This is the 14 mission to be founded. Mission San Jose is so huge and pretty! There are a lot of steps to go to the church! Speaking of the church, it was really beautiful it had a lot of gold or what looks like gold. That church is like no other church. It has no candles to lite, no pads to pry on, and it has an area up top. The garden was really pretty and had a lot of plants. It has a huge funtin in the middle of it. On a stone of California was a lizard and it lived under the map. He or she was really cute in my opinion. That garden was huge, like huge! The Alone Tribe lived there.

Mission San Francisco de Asís

Aka Mission Dolores

Mission San Francisco de Asís was the six mission founded by Padre Junípero Serra. He founded it on October 9, 1776. The mission’s nickname is Mission Dolores because of the near by creek. This is a very nice mission like the rest, but this is the only mission with the original ceiling! In the back of the cemetery there is a cute little hut they you can go inside. I believe it was made out of something called tule, a very strong fiber, which also makes it waterproof. The mission is right in the middle of the city, that is called urban. Now there is a Basilica (special church) right next to the old mission church. The Basilica is really beautiful and big.

Mission San Rafael Archangel

Mission San Rafael Archangel is very small. The actual museum is located inside the gift shop, it is probably the size of about four small cars put together! At least it was free! The rest of the building is the gift shop. There are four founders because the mission was founded at different time. In 1817 the mission was a hospital because some of the natives were getting very ill so people built a San Rafael as a asisrencia (helper mission) and then five years later, in 1822, it became an official mission. The mission is named after Saint Rafael Archangel, the angel.

Mission San Francisco Solano

Mission San Francisco Solano was founded by Padre Jose Altimira on July 4, 1823. This is the 21st Mission founded making this the end of the mission trail! One of the Mission’s interesting facts is, this mission was not founded under the Spanish Government it was founded under the Mexican Government! There is a long room full of pantings. The pantings are of all 21 missions, including some of the church bells, and other small missions pieces. The painter’s name was Chris Jorgensen. In the back there is a courtyard with huge cacti! And there is a really cool old brick oven. In front of the oven there is a sitting place so you can sit yourself down and probably watch someone tell you about the story behind the old brick oven. Nearby are the barracks. In one of the rooms the Mexican soldiers slept and ate their meals. They had two meals per day. Also on their time off they would play cards and other games. The soldiers came from Mission Dolores in San Francisco. The reason the soldiers were sent there was because the Russians were coming south and they wanted to stop them and claim land. In the town is where California became it’s own state from the rest of the country. That is where the people rose the California Bear Flag. This happened in the square in the middle of town, right across from the barracks and mission. And that was the end of the mission trail.