train trip

Instead of work today. We planned a team outing where we took a short train trip from Solano Beach to San Juan Capistrano.

The entrance to the mission.

A small pond, Father Junipero Serra statue in the background, and behind him, the Great Stone Church overlooking everything.

The Great Stone Church. There was an earthquake in 1812 and this is what was left and the dome missing. Supposedly the only church in the area at that time, it could’ve be seen approximately 7 miles away.

This was my favorite part of the mission. It was the old interior of the church. The room was much darker than this but the flash on my camera made the room bright and sort of messed up the atmosphere of the room. I could’ve sat inside for hours.

A closer look of the alter. I’ve never seen an alter like this before. Unique.

Left side of the alter.

There were quite a number of artists/painters stationed throughout the mission. All of them were pretty good and had different styles by curiously looking at their paintings. One of them started painting early this morning and planned on leaving near closing time. Such passion and dedication.

There was an artist painting here and I wanted to take a picture of her but I “chickened” out at the last second. I’d ended up with a close up of this rose instead. I hate it when I look, they look back and I look away a split second later, remembering their eyes for only a short moment in time. But she…was more beautiful than the rose though.

There were two ponds near the entrance and one found in the gardens. I didn’t know they contained Koi fishes like the first one I saw earlier. These two at least weighed a couple pounds easy. To see how large these were, that was my co-worker’s finger compared to the black-gold one I’d named “Chopper”. Chopper almost bit his finger off. It missed though. Darn the luck.

FOOD! Rushing for the train departure and not eating breakfast this morning this is what I was waiting for afterwards. I wanted to run directly from this point of view and ignore the actual crosswalk. That would’ve been silly even if you were hungry.

Waiting for the train back home and the end of a truly kick back day.

This was a very relaxing day especially being very busy at work for the past month. The train ride to and from here was quietly smooth and I could’ve slept all the way but I didn’t want to miss the scenery of the beach along the coast, ocean waves rolling in, and the warm sunny sky today.