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| Poppies, statices, all their colorful array accented the more than 200 year old Mission San Juan Capistrano |
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place... |
| The fountain even provided some color |
we ended up at the Mission San Juan Capistrano.
And like Don Henley sang in the classic Eagles song:
such a lovely place.
The mission brick over 200 years old.
Not quite 65 degrees.
The blue skies.
The white cotton clouds.
And colors in the garden like
fresh oil paint right out of the tube.
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| Bouganvilla meets original mission style |
Walking around the mission, I quickly realized I was in a place
where the pictures ‘find you.”
What I saw all around me invoked images of vintage California.
It reminded me of some of those slightly over-lit technicolor shots from the Hitchock's Vertigo, the movie Chinatown or vintage California postcards.
The drive along the I-5 reminded me of why I love Southern California. It would be a crime to drive inland when you can drive along the coast gazing into the endless blue of the sea.
After about an hour at the mission, I had this feeling that I had been transported to 1940’s California. My 60 mm and a 17-35 mm lenses had provided the perfect scope of vision for this visit.
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| Like a postcard |
But in the end it wasn’t my camera, my lenses,
or the images
that I was making that made the day.
It was California itself
with its mission heritage, wild flowers,
and coastal breezes.
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| A view of wildflowers of the ruins of the original mission |
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| Father Serra founded Mission San Juan Capistrano on All Saint’s Day, November 1, 1776. |
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| I find a tranquility that comes from the dark shadows of arches |
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| Classic CA: The mission, the skies, the palms & cactus |
For this brief time, I felt like a visitor in my own
homeland. And the best part was
that I was already home.
There’s nothing like appreciating
what you already have.
They livin' it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise!
Hello Neighbor,
ReplyDeleteglad to be able to see what you do. We went to Todos Santos, Mexico where there is a Hotel California which they claim is the inspiration to that eagle song.
Thanks for sharing - Cindy