Missions, Surfers, and Pelicans

I'm backtracking a little bit on our way down the coast. We stopped in Ventura, and guess what was there! Another of the chain of 21 missions founded in the late 1700s.

Mission Santa Buenaventura ended up being the 9th and final one during Father Junipero Serra's lifetime.

They have some smart dogs in California - this guy was really cute at the drinking fountain.

Then we moved on to Santa Ana, where we went to Disneyland. But there was the small Santa Ana Zoo across the street that we couldn't resist. Their specialty seemed to be unusual monkeys.

I also liked the anteater -

And of course the bald eagle.

We then moved to Oceanside, where guess what - there was another mission. Mission San Luis Rey, known as the "King of the Missions."

It was the most impressive I've seen so far.

It came along a little later in the string of missions, after Padre Serra'a death.

Some of the old construction was still visible.

The highlight of our stay in Oceanside was a walk out onto their pier.

You could walk out so that you were even with the surfers.

They were really fun to watch.

And we weren't the only ones watching. The brown pelicans have their own roped off area, and you better not trespass, because apparently they bite stupid people.

Next - Halloween! (Better late than never...)