SeeCalifornia.com

In search of those inspiring places to celebrate Easter, Mission Santa Ines in Solvang, Calif. hosts an outdoor sunrise service on Easter. And one unique feature you can visit and see year-round is beyond the rose garden framed by  mountains and lush fields of the Central Coast. An iron-sculpted arch above stone columns of a gate has the word “Resurrection” in Spanish and English. This gate symbolically and literally is the end–or culmination of a garden walk featuring wooden crosses with small, tiled scenes depicting the Last Supper and events leading up to the Resurrection.

Often overlooked on Mission Santa Ines tours, the garden is free to see and features a picnic table where passers by from the village bring  sandwiches and pastries for a reflective lunch under the shade of the oaks. This is one of 21 missions established prior to the formation of California as a state.

Another special offering of the Solvang mission (missionsantaines.org) and its parish is a monthly Taize prayer in which meditative, simple chants are sung, and lighting is usually by candlelight only.  This is usually offered the first Friday each month at 7 p.m. Call to confirm: (805) 688-4815.