Day 15 (June 25)-Carlsbad to San Diego

Mostly sunny, the wind at my back, riding along some of the most beautiful beach coastline in California.  These are good omens for what may be the perfect final day of this trip.  I'm heading south on the Pacific Coast Highway to Mission San Diego de Alcala, the very first mission established in what is now California, and the last mission on my tour.



The Pannikin in Encinitas, CA

Seven and a half miles south of our motel is the old Encinitas Santa Fe Station.  It is now the Pannikin Coffee House.  It is a MUST STOP every time we come to San Diego.  So I take off riding and Carolyn leaves in the car at the same time.  I arrive 30 minutes later, and she is standing in line for brunch.  Great timing!



At Journey's End

I've biked most of this leg before, and really enjoy it.  The road parallels the beach to Torrey Pines, and for me is awe inspiring.  Then there's the "Torrey Pines Hill," a two-mile climb to the top of the bluff.  La Jolla Cove is half way, then La Jolla and Mission Boulevards take me down to Sea World.  Now, at this point it can get confusing, as their are roads that go every which way, punctuated by several freeway on ramps.  I connected with the bike path I was aiming for to ride the seven miles up Mission Valley, and at 3:05 today I pulled in Mission San Diego, my cycling journey complete.



Mission San Diego de Alcala, "Mother of the Missions"



Spain and California have an interesting history of discovery and exploration.  In 1542, a mere 50 years after Columbus "discovered the New World," Juan Cabrillo landed in San Diego (he named it San Miguel) and claimed it for Spain.  Sixty years later (1602), Sebastian Vizcaino re-entered the harbor and renamed in San Diego, then went as far north as Monterey.  These two ports, San Diego and Monterey, would serve as the anchor points of the Spanish settlement, until Juan De Anza would explore San Francisco bay in 1775, after five of the missions had already been established.

It wasn't until Father Junipero Serra came overland in 1769 from what is now Baja California and rendezvoused with the Spanish fleet in San Diego Bay that Spain began permanently settling Alta California.  The original mission was established on what is now Presidio Hill in San Diego, but need for clean water--and to move the mission away from the military camp--Mission San Diego moved up the San Diego River to the location it now inhabits, in 1774.  The ladies in the mission gift shop were very proud that San Diego is "the most historic" of the missions, and couldn't wait to point us to all its unique features.



Archaeological site inside
Mission San Diego

 Research is still going on to discover more about mission life in the early years.  As at Soledad, and a few other missions, we saw archaeological digs in progress.  At San Diego, the mission was used as a Calvary base for the U.S. Army after California become part of the United States in 1846.  In the first "layer" many artifacts from the "Army period" were discovered.  The next level was the "Mission period."  While we learn a lot about the situation of the missions from original writings by Serra and other priests and historians of the early mission era, the artifacts uncovered help bring this history "alive" and help us to visualize what life was really like.  This trip did much of that for me, as I am now better able to envision the circumstances under which these extraordinary explorers and settlers lived and worked.


Front of the church at
Mission San Diego



Living quarters and grounds,
San Diego Mission



This mission has many "museums" within the mission, including rooms restored to the original living conditions and historical time lines for the mission era and beyond.  Since we had visited all the missions at this point, one of our favorite displays were reliefs of the front of all the California missions.  It was fun to be able to identify each one without looking at the names, because we had been there! 



Reliefs of Mission Profiles, displayed at Mission San Diego

Because we visited the missions as they stood geographically from north to south, we didn't view them in the order they were founded.  We've talked between us as to whether there ever was a "Master Plan" for the 21 missions and the El Camino Real.  We've concluded that there wasn't.  These explorers and soldiers "invented" as they went, and did many things out of sheer necessity.  The final product was a chain of settlements about a day's journey apart from each other that would set the precedent for where we, almost 250 years later, would drive, work and live.  For those of you that are interested, below is a list of the missions in the order they were established [and the town or city, if not obvious], and the day of this trip on which they were visited:

     1.  San Diego de Alcala (1769)--Day 15

     2.  San Carlos Borromeo [Carmel] (1770)--Day 4

     3.  San Antonio de Padua [Jolon] (1771)--Day 6

     4.  San Gabriel Arcangel [Los Angeles] (1771)--Day 12

     5.  San Luis Obispo de Tolosa (1772)--Day 8

     6.  San Francisco de Asis [Dolores, San Francisco] (1776)-Day 1

     7.  San Juan Capistrano (1776)--Day 14

     8.  Santa Clara de Asis (1777)--Day 2

     9.  San Buenaventura [Ventura] (1782)--Day 11

    10. Santa Barbara (1786)--Day 11

    11. La Purisima Concepcion [Lompoc] (1787)--Day 10

    12. Santa Cruz (1791)--Day 3

    13. Nuestra Senora de la Soledad (1791)--Day 5

    14. San Jose [Fremont] (1797)--Day 2

    15. San Juan Bautista (1797)--Day 4

    16. San Miguel Arcangel (1797)--Day 7

    17. San Fernando Rey de Espana [Los Angeles] (1797)--Day 12

    18. San Luis Rey de Francia [Oceanside] (1798)--Day 14

    19. Santa Ynez [Solvang] (1804)--Day 10

    20. San Rafael Arcangel (1817)--Day 1

    21. San Francisco Solano [Sonoma] (1823)--Day 1



Mark resting in the courtyard, Mission San Diego

I will post one more blog, which will be some reflections on our trip, in a day or so.



For now, I rest.




Carlsbad (San Luis Rey) to San Diego:  41 miles
Total Missions visited:  21
Total Miles cycled on trip:  859 miles
Total days cycling:  14