THURSDAY, JULY 23

THURSDAY, JULY 23:

      Spent a lovely morning and early afternoon at the Mission San Carlos Borromeo Del Rio Carmelo (better known as the Carmel Mission).

                                                                 

 

This was the second mission founded by Father Serra (the 1^st being San Diego), in 1770. It was his favorite of the 9 he founded, and he chose to reside here and make this his headquarters for overseeing the others. He died and is buried here, in the church.

                                                                           
               Bronze sculpture of Fr. Serra in final repose, with other padres surrounding him:

                                                                       
                                                            

       We viewed a couple of excellent short films here, one on this mission itself, and the other on the life of Father Serra. As always, it widened our knowledge and understanding of history, geography, and culture – in this case, mostly in regards to the state of California and the huge part that the Mission era played in its foundational history – but also, some extraneous tidbits of interest: e.g., at the time that Father Serra was given his charge to establish the missions in Alta California, Spain's empire stretched to half of the planet. That's an astounding fact that we tend to forget. It's a reminder and object lesson in how quickly things can change – geopolitcally, as well as anything else. Also – there were more Native Americans living on the Monterey Peninsula than anywhere else in what's now the entire U.S., because they had such an abundance of resources within 40 square miles, especially a variety of food sources and an even more temperate climate than the area has now.

        Partly because of the special connection with Father Serra, Carmel is known as the Crown Jewel of the Missions. Over 4,000 Indians were baptized here from 1770-1836.

                                                          

                                                            

We suspect that it also derives its Crown Jewel appelation because of its beautiful and unique architecture.

 

 

                                                    

 

                                                                               

 

 

 

                                                       

 

 

 

   It has 9 bells in is Moorish-inspired tower, and we heard them ring at noon. Glorious!

 

 

       As always, we became immersed in the beautiful garden and courtyard areas, and spent a lot of our time there just contemplating the peaceful and spiritual tranquility there. Cool, but partially sunny by now.

                                                                    

 

 

                                                      

 

 

 

       Grabbed a couple of sandwich wraps at the market on the way home, and had those for lunch. I had a headache and was tired, so we just spent the afternoon napping and resting.

      When we were feeling better and rested, the sun was out, and it was beautiful. We decided to quickly drive out to Point Lobos again. The pictures Bill had the other day were very disappointing. And, since it's so close, and free, why not enjoy a couple of hours out there before dinner? It was really, really lovely. The sea lions and other marine life weren't as plentiful and active as they were on Tuesday, but still there and vocal.

      Came home and had packaged chicken enchiladas I'd picked up from the same grocery as where I'd gotten our lunch. Really tasty! We need to keep quick, easy, inexpensive prepared meals like this in mind.

     Took Pappy out for his nightly walk. It was a lovely, perfect evening, even though clouds had come in again. Will that mean overcast & cool again for the morning? Met Mike on our walk . . . he and his wife live in the house at the crest of the driveway here. Chatted a few minutes. Never met a friendlier, nicer guy.