In conclusion

Here’s the round up, or “best of”:

Favorite mission: Mission San Antonio de Padua, because it is the most original in terms of scope and supplemental structures to the main church complex, has the most original rural setting, and the least crowds.  Plus you can stay overnight in the original padre’s quarters

Most unusual mission: Mission San Fernando Rey, because it had a very weird museum, even the parking lot was unusual for having a huge power line tower placed in it.  Even the Bob Hope Memorial Garden was unusual in appearance compared to the other mission gardens and cemeteries.

Favorite food: Too difficult to say, because I had so many good things to eat on this trip!  However, my favorite place to eat was Solvang, because there were so many good things to eat all over town.

Most interesting food to try: Danish ice cream at Ingeborg’s Danish Chocolates in Solvang.  This was vanilla ice cream in a waffle cone, topped with strawberry jam and a Flodeboller – a giant chocolate-covered handmade marshmallow. 

Most interesting food experience: Dandelion Chocolate in San Francisco, where they import chocolate beans in the pod, extract them, roast them, grind them and make them into wonderful chocolate treats, and encourage tasting of the roasted beans and chocolate made from beans imported from different regions.

Favorite sightseeing (excluding missions and food): I had to think hard about this one, but would have to say the Monterey Aquarium on Cannery Row, Monterey.  It is fun and educational for all ages, and they have so many different kinds of sea life to watch, like otters, puffins, squids and jellyfish.

Favorite campground: Another difficult one (although I can say without hesitation my least favorite was Newport Dunes), a tie between Monterey's Veteran's Park and San Onofre State Beach.

Favorite thing overall: riding my bike through so many different places, from rural farms to wild forests and small towns to big cities.  The sights, sounds and smells are so much different, and heightened, when experienced from a bike compared to when you’re riding in a car. 

Day 21: Cardiff-by-the-Sea to San Diego

The final day of riding---

We began the last breakfast of the ride with the absolutely scrumptious cinnamon custard coffee cake from Carlsbad Danish Bakery.  These folks could give the Solvang bakers a run for their money.

Our friend Sandy joined us for this final ride!  Plus, being such an amazing person, she rode to our starting point and then to work and back home again – for a total ride of at least 60 miles! She said how impressed she was with us for riding so far, but I have to say the same to here: we never came close to that length of a ride on any day in the whole trip!

We biked along the coast past Torrey Pines Stqte Park, with its beautiful bluffs set against the crashing ocean waves.  The first thirty minutes of our ride was in a light to moderate rain, the only bad weather we’ve had for the whole ride.  By the time we reached the park, though, the clouds were breaking up and we resumed the great biking weather we saw for the rest of the trip.

In La Jolla we stopped at the Michel Coulon Dessertier for a mid-ride snack.  What a spectacular little dessert and coffee shop!  I had a mocha topped with freshly whipped organic cream, Dad had a hot chocolate, and we shared a piece of chocolate hazelnut cake and a chocolate French meringue.  So good beyond words.  

Sugar-and-caffeine loaded, we rode the remainder of the 30 mile route into Mission San Diego in good time.  Mission San Diego was the first of the Alta California missions, and is traditionally the beginning of the journey through the mission rather than the end. 

We took our time strolling through the museum, chapel, buildings and gardens.  Again, even though we’d been through so many mission museums, we still learned new things at this one that hadn’t been explained at any of the others.  Plus, each mission is truly unique, even in the details that might otherwise seem repetitive, such as the mission bells, the meditation gardens, or even the work areas where leather tanning or candle making was done, since each mission was set up differently and had slightly different ways of doing things or of construction.

One part of this mission I appreciated was that they explained who the mission was named after and why they were sainted.  And it’s a great story: Saint Diego, before he was sainted, was a friar in the Old World that had miraculous healing powers which he used upon his parishioners.  However, the big miracle that caused him to earn sainthood was not achieved until about 100 years after his death, when the king fell terribly ill.  No one could cure him, until the friars brought in the dead body (still perfectly intact) of Diego, and laid it in the bed with the king.  By morning, he was miraculously cured and able to get out of the bed he had shared with the corpse! He petitioned the Church for Diego’s sainthood, which was granted.

By then we were hungry, and made our way to the Old Town San Diego historic district.  We ate at Casa Guadalajara, where they make their own tortillas fresh daily.  It was great!  Plus the servings were huge, even for hungry cyclists.

By then, full and content, we headed for the car, and home.

Today’s route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3571329

Day 20: San Clemente to Cardiff-by-the-Sea

This morning we broke our fast with pastries from San Juan Capistrano, and boy were they good.  As is our usual custom, we got three different pastries and divided them between the three of us so we could try more.

The first stop of the day was Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, named for King Louis IX of France who led one of the Crusades.  It is called the King of the Missions, because it is the largest of them all.  Even until 1830, when California had become more developed, this mission was still the largest building in the entire land.  It was also the most productive in agricultural output. 

Architecturally, this mission is interesting beyond just its size.  It’s the only mission chapel still standing to have been built in a cruciform shape (San Juan Capistrano’s Great Stone Chapel was built that way also, but it has not been rebuilt since it fell over nearly 100 years ago). It is the only mission chapel to have a cupola.  It is also unusual because it’s bell tower stands off center, so it appears as if it is missing a match for the left side, but actually no second tower had ever been planned.

San Luis Rey is the home of the first “California Pepper Tree” (they are actually Peruvian Pepper Trees), which was planted at the mission when a sailor gave the padres some tree seeds.  It is so big and old that its branches need to be supported.

This mission had a very nice museum.  It was not too big or too small, and it was full quality artifacts and displays that were well put together.  Even though it’s my 20^th mission museum in a row to visit, and I’ve now seen more Indian baskets, mortars, and tallow vats than I can count, I still learned some things at this mission.

Our next stop was Carlsbad Village, the historic downtown of Carlsbad, where we ate our way around town.  First was lunch at local’s favorite Al’s Café, where I had a great vegetarian eggs benedict, and dad had homemade corned beef hash.  We followed that up with a stop at the Carlsbad Chocolate Bar, for chocolate covered mint Milanos, raspberry white chocolate cheesecake truffles, and chocolate covered espresso beans (in a variety of chocolate!).  Then, we swung by the Carlsbad Danish Bakery to pick up breakfast for tomorrow (cinnamon custard Danish), and couldn’t resist picking up some dessert for tonight (a decadent looking slice of chocolate cake sandwiched around lemon cheesecake).

Finally, full and fully stocked on goodies, we headed for the campground at San Elijo State Beach.  It is a very nice campground, with large, flat sites, on a low bluff next to the beach, with a camp store, laundry facilities, and surfing school (which I would really like to try, but won’t have time on this trip).  It’s our last campsite of the ride!

Today’s route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2875657

Day 19: Newport Beach to San Clemente

I awoke this morning to the sounds of traffic, sirens, cyclists, joggers, and airplanes passing in most cases within feet of my tent.  Ah, Newport Dunes.  Definitely not a campground built for tent campers.

Then tragedy struck! The last of the Solvang pastries had gone moldy! Cold cereal ensued, but with plans to find a bakery later in the day.

We traveled down Pacific Coast Highway past the sights and sounds of Orange County on a bright Sunday morning (did I mention that it was beautiful weather again, or should I say still?).  Lots of people out cycling, walking, jogging, rollerblading, playing on the beach, or crowding into restaurants for Sunday brunch.

Today’s mission was San Juan Capistrano.  This was one of the few that I had visited prior to this trip, but having come from 18 other missions leading up to this one gave me a different perspective.  Capistrano’s nickname is the Jewel of the Missions, and it is indeed a very nice mission, However, I would say that “jewel” could also equally refer to the expensive nature of this particular mission.  Unlike the other “lesser gemstones” of the mission chain, Capistrano is significantly more expensive to visit (three times the average), has way more donation containers around the buildings, has numerous additional opportunities to buy things (several paid tours to choose from, paid activities for kids, etc), and has signs posted around the exhibits informing the visitor how much it will cost to further restore various buildings and artifacts.  And they had TONS of visitors.

 

Strange, then, that this is the only mission that has not had its main chapel rebuilt.  Even Soledad, with its free admission and few visitors, Santa Cruz, with its scale model, and San Rafael, with its completely obliterated complex, have rebuilt their chapels to how they looked in the missions’ heyday.  Not that I’m complaining, because it still is a very large and beautiful mission even with the main chapel in ruins.  Its just unusual.

Capistrano’s motto is “Worth a Visit” (it may be the only mission to have a motto as well as a nickname).  It is indeed, despite the crowds and the price.  The gardens are gorgeous, The rooms are full of interesting displays and exhibits.  The Great Stone Chapel is amazing, even in its ruined state.  The Father Serra Chapel (still intact) is ornate.   In short, it is worth a visit.

 

After the mission, we walked over to the Los Rios Historical District, which is a small neighborhood of very old buildings on Los Rios Street.  They have nearly all been converted to restaurants and gift shops, but they were still quaint and historic despite the changes.  We ate at one of the restaurants on the street, which served pretty good Greek food. 

On the way out of town, we found a bakery.  They say they were voted best bakery in Capistrano, so we’re hopeful that tomorrow’s breakfast will be delicious!

Tonight we are camped in San Onofre State Park, just outside of San Clemente.  It is quite the change from last night.  There are very few campers here, the sites are large, the setting is quiet, and the view is scenic.  We are on the bluffs, about a mile from the ocean. The only shortfall is that there is no wireless signal of any kind. 

Today’s route:  http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2875326

Day 18: Rosemead to Newport Beach

Started off this morning with a visit to Mission San Gabriel.  Though it is part of an active parish, they hold most church services and functions in the newer section next door to the original complex.  There are some church services still held in the old chapel, but we were able to tour that in between masses.  The rest of the old mission is preserved, not used.

The gardens in this mission were more “realistic” to the old days, because they had various fruit trees, olive trees, and other food plants instead of the decorative meditation gardens that are in most missions we’ve seen.  The best of the gardens was the grape arbor, which was home to several impressive specimens of Claret grapes planted in 1774.  These were the mother-vines to many of the grapes planted at the other missions, and they are still growing!  They looked more like grape trees, with trunks bigger than many actual trees in the garden.  

Also of interest in the gardens were some orange trees, Valencia type, that were clones of the original mission oranges - the very oldest oranges in California.  The University of California discovered some orange trees not far from the mission that, when they were tested, had the same DNA as the mission oranges would have.  However, the orange trees at the mission had died, so the “rediscovered” oranges were propagated and planted at the mission.

The very best part of the mission was talking with “Santa John.”  Santa John is a volunteer, but not just any volunteer.  He more or less single handedly revamped the mission’s museum, discovering in the process all sorts of wonderful artifacts and artwork that had been placed in their storage for decades or centuries, and putting those pieces on display for everyone to enjoy.  He shared with us a great wealth of information, and was fun to talk to, as well.  In case you’re wondering, he’s called Santa John because he is a registered member of the national bearded Santas association.

Several hours of wandering the grounds and museum later, we began biking.  Today was supposed to be our flattest (and therefore easiest) day… but it wasn’t.  We biked all day into a headwind: when we changed courses mid-ride from due south to due south-east, the wind shifted with us (or rather, against us).

We stopped for a late lunch in Seal Beach.  All my old favorites have shut down, so we tried the Old City Café on Main Street.  I had a huge stack of blueberry pancakes, which were absolutely loaded with fresh blueberries, plus a side of eggs and cottage cheese (all for a great price, too!). Not only were the portions generous and the price good, it was delicious.

After lunch we biked along the beach (still into the wind) to the campground in Newport Beach.  It is called the Newport Dunes Resort, and it is quite a large and classy facility for a campground.  However, as tent camping goes, its one of the worst I’ve seen so far.  It is designed as an RV campground, but they said they had tent spots too, which is what I reserved.  But their “tent sites” are actually just standard RV sites, and unlike other RV sites we’ve used, it’s very short and narrow and only hard packed dirt (no grass), so there wasn’t really room for the truck, trailer and either (much less both) of the tents.  We managed to (barely) squeeze into the site, and I am sure glad that we all have quality air mats for beds.

For dinner, I went out with old friends, and my parents went out to Gina’s Pizza in Newport Beach which they highly recommend for their fresh and quality ingredients.

Today’s route:  http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3190235