South from San Francisco, Part II - Solvang, Missions, Anacapa Island

Solvang, California - settled by Danes originally (Apparently not quite of the Hagar the Horrible persuasion). No cliche left behind:
Did Hans Christian Anderson really look like Danny Kaye?
The Little Mermaid...

A store window:

Mission Santa Barbara, called the Queen of California Missions

They all have a courtyard - wonderfully peaceful. The Japanese have Zen gardens with nothing but rocks, but I guess the idea is the same....
A typical monk's cell.
The Franciscan Fathers, 1887 (the three on the right are Brothers, the rest are Fathers). The missions were started by the Jesuits, but they didn't obey orders well enough to suit the King of Spain, so he kicked them out and installed the Franciscans. Religion and Politics got mixed up together back then, too.

The Garden across from the Mission
Mission San Carlos Borromeo, Carmel; the home mission of Fr Juniperro Serra, who headed the California Missions for many years. He established missions every 20 miles along the Camino Real - Royal Highway - for travellers to stay at. A diorama at Mission Carmel

The library at Mission Carmel, said to be the first library in California. Tomb of Fr Serra. He walked everywhere, out of humility (so did Gandhi).
The Bells Joy, Gloria and Sorrow - at Mission San Luis Obispo (Obispo means Bishop)
At Oxnard, California: bones of a Pygmy Mammoth
Anacapa Island, one of the California Channel Islands. Anacapa means 'mirage' in Chmash Indian; the islands are all often obscured by fog.

On the island, a catch-basin for rainwater. It didn't work out: too much saltr spray, seagull droppings, and the concrete itself is fractured. The Indians didn't ever settle this island because of the lack of water.
And, this being the coast, an oil platform. Didn't seem to be polluting anything.