We visited California Mission San Gabriel Arcangel this weekend as part of my son’s mandatory fourth grade project. Everybody does a mission project during the grade school years in California. There are 21 missions in California, over the years, I’ve been to 14. I do not recall ever going the mission San Gabriel before, even though it is the closest to where I grew up.
San Gabriel is a working mission, which means the Catholic Church still conducts services and runs the grounds. The pictures of the crosses below were taken in the religious gifts/mission history shop. I was struck by the number and variety of crosses on display. I thought it odd at the time.
My son shot 160 pictures at the mission, most were very good. I got to shoot a few, like the Indian pictured above. I pained me to stand by and let my son work, but it was also fun to see him develop his own eye. At one point, I saw an oddly placed rosary hanging from an old cactus and thought the shot would be interesting. My son had already walked behind the graves of a few old priests to shoot a wide, then tight series of photos. He saw the possibilities too. I love watching my son grow up.
One last thing, make sure to take the decent tour, John, who lead our tour, was an elderly but highly energetic guide. He has been helping at the mission since the 30s and knows his stuff.
