Welcome to day two of my winter escape to California. I rolled out of Williams at about 8:30 with a full belly and a full gas tank. I had not even gotten on the freeway before a bright sunny day turned into pea soup. Which was ironic as I had decided not to go back to the wildlife refuge because it wasn’t foggy, on my side of town.
But I was committed so off I went down the highway remembering the challenges of forecasting how deep into the valley the fog would spread after making its way through the Carquinez Strait and into the Sacramento Valley. This during my two year tenure as the Agricultural forecaster for the Northern Sacramento Valley. I also spent three years pitching fire weather forecasts out of Sacramento so there was much to contemplate and cogitate upon while watching for trucks looming up out of the fog. Not the least of which was why the heck I ever left California in the first place.
It did occur to me that this was the stuff of which 20 car pileups are made so I was greatly relieved with visibility improved around Sacramento and even more relieved when I had to pull out my sunglasses near Stockton. Given that the lanes in that area appeared to have been laid out by a drunken engineer I can’t imagine what it would have been like to negotiate in fog.
But you want to see pictures. I finally had a chance for photo ops in San Juan Bautista, home of the first mission (of the same name) on my route. Unfortunately the place was overrun by school children. But I managed to sneak a few pictures around them. First this bench with turquoise doors and windows under the gallery porc
h. then of course the classic mission bells shot which I grunged up a bit using Topaz Texture Effects. The town itself was interesting and full of nineteenth century architecture. I may try to stop on my way back and see if things are a little quieter.
Next stop was Nuestra Senora de la Soledad where things were a little more in keeping with my idea of what a mission visit should look like. I especially liked the Gregorian chants playing in the background. This first image is of the chapel door. A complete restoration was required at this mission after having been abandoned for 100 years. The remains of the adobe walls of the original church have been given a roof structure to protect them from further decay.
Somehow the original bell managed to survive and it hangs just outside 
the chapel. I tried a couple different treatments on this one. If you would like to see it in black and white go to http://jeannehoadley.com/Winter.
Tomorrow I have three more missions to visit before joining up with my Road Scholar group. Tonight I am ready to crawl in bed and sleep like the dead.