The Rest of the Story......

Even at my age, there's a lot to learn.  I'm always so excited about the photos that I jump ahead of myself and post some out of order.  So here is the rest of the story of the San Juan Baptista photo trip.  First stop REALLY was Casa de Fruta.  Boy has this place grown since I used to stop here years ago.    The first thing we spied was the Carousel.  Unfortunately it was not only closed down but surrounded by 8 foot tall chain link fence.  Picture two crazy ladies trying to climb up on anything they can find in order to get pictures without the fence (and not get caught).  The Venetian Carousel is a two story beauty, this view only shows the top floor.  It's sad that it stands out in the weather and is showing its age.  This gorgeous creation should be in a building.

We chased two peacocks around for 10 minutes trying to get a good shot before we gave up and headed off to SJB.

Here are a few images from inside the mission.  You can see the detailed painting in the baptismal room. This type of decorative painting is continued through the entire mission.

You can see what's left of the original paint to the left of this door.  We had to duck through most of the doorways.  They were about 5'6" high.  We decided most of these people must have been very small in stature.

I had a request for the Kitty door, so although out of focus, here it is.  This chapel was very dark, and although my camera has a million settings, it doesn't include an automatic tripod that drops from the bottom when I need it.  All of the doors in the mission are made like this one and are painted turquoise.  They look like water flowing from the top to the bottom.  

Across the plaza square from the mission is the Plaza Hall ... not the Palace Hotel as I previously stated.  The Palace Hotel with its bar, poker room, dining room and kitchen on the bottom floor and sleeping rooms on the top floor, is located to the right of the Mission.   On the right side of the Plaza Hall building pictured here, is the livery stable, which is my favorite, being the horse person I am!!

I must say this is the fanciest livery stable I have ever seen.  Mr. J. J. Wright must have been wealthy.

Being a centrally located freight and pony express station, they were probably very busy also.

It is filled with carriages and wagons of every sort from beer wagons to the cadillac of carriages equivalent to a limo.  It has wooden floors throughout with holes drilled in the boards for drainage.  One horse to a slot, I'm thinking the horses weren't very big either!

Hay is kept in the loft above and when fed, the horses pull it through the small holes in the back wall.  What falls is caught in a large trough, with a smaller area to the left for grain.  Amazingly, this is exactly the setup we had (and still have) in our barn at the ranch except our stalls are bigger.

The time flew by while we were there ... I just couldn't get enough pictures.  Being a history buff, I spent too much time reading every little note and description.  A return trip is scheduled for next week!!!