A Christmas Mission

I love old missions.  Our original plan yesterday was to ride the Coaster train into Old Town San Diego, but we decided instead to drive to Mission San Juan Capistrano.  (That's a hot link, so click to get the history.)

That mission, dating back to the 1770's,  has to be one of the oldest structures to visit in Southern California.  Somewhere I have a photo of my mother taken in the 1930's sitting on the edge of the fountain in the central courtyard with swallows.  We didn't see a single swallow yesterday, but the trip didn't disappoint.  My camera seems to be malfunctioning, but I managed to salvage some photos from the trip.

Beautiful nativity.  The mission was decked out for the holiday season.

The grounds inside the mission are beautifully groomed and filled with coastal plants. The fountain in the central courtyard of the mission contains koi.

This pretty cat sat at a cottage several blocks away, but I'm sure he would love to play with those fishy fishies!

Have a wonderful Christmas!