In fourth grade, all California children are supposed to visit one of the missions and study it as part of our state history. Last year, it didn’t fit into what Tommy was studying in history, so we did it this year, splitting the difference. We read Zia (the sequel to Island of the Blue Dolphins, cool because it takes place at Mission Santa Barbara!) in the hotel room and in the car on the way up, and we stopped at San Juan Bautista because it’s the mission in Vertigo! Derek and I rewatched it before leaving on the trip; I think the kids are going to wait a few more years before we introduce them to Hitchcock. Fun fact: the infamous church tower does not exist–it was a model added on in post-production. Another fun fact: the church lies just a few yards away from the San Andreas Fault.
Model of what the mission originally looked like. Pretty plain, with buildings around a central courtyard.
Church services had just gotten out, so we were able to peek into the original sanctuary. And yes, they did allow Kim Novak to run along through here for the film.
Across the street, there are a series of historical buildings that have been preserved as museums. Here’s the outdoor kitchen area of the Breen house (one of the infamous Donner Party families–all of them survived). Whalers who were done using their enormous cooking vats to boil down whale blubber into oil would sell the vats to the residents along the coast, who used them for slightly smaller-scale cooking.
The old hotel has many historical artifacts, including lots of pretty dresses.
Tommy’s favorite: the two-story outhouse!
Log cabins are old hat to us after our midwest adventures, but they claim that this is the oldest original log cabin still standing in California.
