Sunday, June 26, 2016

Time Has Gotten Away From Me :(

First of all, my apologies for staying away so long.  I owe huge apologies to Jeanne, Linda and Phylis, who have reached out with comments.  I am so sorry that I was not able to respond sooner.  Life has been a little out of control for a few weeks and I have not logged a whole lot of computer time.  I have had some business travel and work projects that are taking precedence right now.  I am really fortunate that I get to do the work that I do, and that I love my job.  Life tends to go in cycles, and I know that the cycle is coming where I will have more time for some of my other passions.  But for now, I walk every single day in gratitude for my job and the interesting work that I get to do.
 
So last week, I had to fly to San Diego for some training.  Generally, when I travel on business, I do not leave the hotel.  Usually I am too exhausted.  However, I had been learning some new advanced techniques on our accounting software and my brain was full at the end of the day, and I needed some fresh air.  I decided to do a little bit of sightseeing for the evening.  
 
I love history and architecture.  California has an interesting history, and a big part of the history is are the 21 missions throughout the state.  The history of the missions is part of the 4th grade curriculum here and so most school children have visited one at one time or another.  It is a goal of mine to see all 21 although some have fallen into disrepair and not much remains of them.  The first mission built in California was San Diego de Alcala.  (The second is here locally, San Carlos de Borremeo - Carmel.) There are actually four missions in San Diego county, more than any other county.   I only got to see this one though.




If you are ever driving through California, you will often see these bells on the end of a shepard's hook.  They mark the El Camino Real (the Royal Road) or the Mission Trail.  These bells mark the path between the 21 missions. 
 
I have only been to a few of the missions, I have been to Mission San Jose, Mission Santa Barbara, Mission Soledad, Mission Santa Ynez, Mission Carmel, and now Mission San Diego.  The missions are generally about 100 miles apart or a day's ride by horseback.
 
The mission was closed by the time I got there, and I only got to peek inside. 
 
I had still had some daylight left, so I decided to drive around Balboa Park.  Balboa Park is like an oasis in San Diego, much like Central Park in New York, or Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.  It is huge and has a number of museums and the world famous San Diego Zoo. 
 
This is a picture of the Museum of Man in Balboa Park and its famous tower.  The building is one of the four original buildings from the 1915 Panama-California Exposition.  I would have loved to walk through the museum, but it was getting late and I still had to get dinner and get a good night's sleep before the next day's training.
 

So time to call it a night.  May you have a week filled with blessings!