On a Mission to See California Missions

Pictured clockwise in photos are bottom left: Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside, Mission La Purisima Concepcion in Lompoc, Mission San Juan Bautista in San Juan Bautista and Mission San Carlos Borreomeo in Carmel, California.

People sometimes have only one mission in life, but usually they have many--save the ocean, save the whales, ban plastic bags, bring world peace, end the war, end homelessness, end poverty, and more!

I haven't fulfilled my mission just yet. One mission that I may never complete, though it is on my list of life's "to do" events is visiting all the California missions. I seldom go out of my way more than a half hour drive to see a mission during road trips, which has kept me from seeing Mission San Antonio in Monterey County. It is located on Camp Roberts military base, down a country road nearly 50 minutes by car off the 1-101 Highway.

When you visit missions that were built initially in the 1700s - 1800s, and rebuilt because the adobe brick construction couldn't withstand California's earthquakes or a raid by Natives and fire destroying San Diego's first mission, you get a flood of emotions. The smells of many of the places seem to hold onto something older than the buildings themselves. Your mind tries to rectify the fact that the structures aren't original but are replicas of the first buildings and now often contain earthquake retrofits. So in a sense, you're not really walking through history.

But when you step into the mission buildings as an absorption process, you suddenly learnt that age doesn't matter. At the missions you can take tours and hear about lives of those who lived in the spaces or founded the places, or you can reflect at the fountains, rose gardens and cemeteries where mission residents from the 1700s and 1800s are buried. If you're a nuts & bolts science type who approaches things with an analytical mind, you may feel nothing at all. However, even scientists cope with the unexplained, and there are plenty of magical, mystical and unexplained things that happen at California's missions. One of the most basic things you get is the feeling of living off the land. A perfect mission to gain that sense is La Purisima Mission in Lompoc, where livestock are maintained on the property.

School kids in California know all about the missions from their history lessons. Sometimes they even build replicas for projects, and often they get to see and experience a mission on a school outing. A visit to a mission isn't a theme park ticket where you'll have some amazing g-force thrill. It's not a shopping spree with designer colors & fashion. It's cheap or often free; it only takes an hour or less to visit a mission; its entertainment value is subtle and simple; and whatever religion (or none) you may take with you to a California mission, the journey appeals to world travelers who see California as a world force, and want to see its past from which they society grew and blossomed. The native remnants are far & few as the mission represents the first modern attempts to build a culture. Missions are integral to Catholic religion and in places such as Ventura, you'll find the San Buenaventura Mission serves as a house of worship, primarily for Hispanics who prefer the traditions and sense of history the beautiful mission on a hill blocks from the sea offers.

Make it your mission to see a mission. If you see one, it's likely you'll want to see more.