San Luis Rey Mission March 15-17, 2013

Welcome to Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, 

King of the Missions.

Founded in 1798 by Padre Fermin Francisco de Lasuen, successor to Padre Junipero Serra, the Mission was named after St. Louis IX, King of France, who lived during the 13th century.

I needed a panoramic lens for I didn't get it all.

Always archeology digs.
They think these were the homes
 of the workers at the Mission.

The fountain is half way between
the digging and the mission.

Fr. Serra welcomes you, too.

The only wooden dome and cupola
of all the missions.

Another fountain in the
inner courtyard behind the
old church and the conference
rooms.

Another view of the
inner courtyard.

Jesus is walking on water.
I'm too afraid.
The building is the new
church and people were
coming to mass.

St. Francis is very happy!
And so am I.
His statue is sitting on a
statue bench! Can always tell it's
St. Francis with the birds.

This courtyard is surrounded
by the individual rooms
looking out.

Same path looking from the side so
you can see the opening and the urn.

California's largest and oldest
Pepper Tree.

Isn't this trunk amazing!

Lovely flowers

We went through this door to get
to the lunchroom. The trees look
like they need a haircut!

All the scenes in the
background are from
San Diego and
Oceanside.

Big Circle! We had 40+ women.
Met here to get us started, then
broke into 3 groups for discussion.
The mural at the end
depicts history of the mission.

The Lavanderias

I thought Lavanderias
(open-air Laundry)
was an ancient American Indian
word, so much to my surprise,
I found it is still being used!

The arch is where the sign is and
where you can see the mission. The
little white dot is the top of the mission.

You can see the gargoyle and the tile
pools.

Viaduct away from the lavanderia
to irrigate the fields.

Not quite for sure why the well is
high up on this ridge overlooking
the lavanderia.

This pretty pink blossom is
on a tree.

Blue blossoms are also on a tree.

These are ice plant blossoms. I love
the bright pink blooms, so I was
really surprised at this yellow.

Live Birds
In the gift shop but NOT
FOR SALE. A good place
for Fr. Francis' birds.