San Juan Capistrano, Orange County, CA

 

I had to take Chano to the John Wayne Airport in Orange county so on the way home I stopped in San Juan Capistrano with the kids.  I had read about an historic district that is one of the oldest in California.  There were a lot of old houses and buildings. There was even an old jail made entirely out of metal.  Some are gift shops and others are private homes.  We found a park in the district and the kids played for awhile. By the park, they had a commemrative wall of pictures and people.  One picture and story really caught my attention.  It the was story of Modesta Avila.  She objected to the Santa Fe Railroad running through her mother's land and hung a line of laundry across the tracks.  Although she removed it before the train arrived, she was later charged and convicted of a felony, sentenced to 3 years at San Quentin and died at age 22 after serving 2 years.  A sad story but it shows how different the law was back then.  We also went into the O'Neill Museum which is one of the the earliest houses in San Juan Capistrano.  It is the gray bungalow with the white decorative gingerbread at the roof line.  San Juan Capistrano is really a cute town and I would visit there again. 

Kissing statue dedication in San Diego

On Feb. 16th, we went to the dedication of the "Kissing Statue" in San Diego also known as "Unconditonal Surrender".  San Diego actually had this statue on loan from another state and it was taken down last year.  San Diegans missed the statue and raised $1 millions dollars to have one permanently commissioned for San Diego.  A beautiful 25 foot statue was made and it was put in a nice park right next to the USS Midway ship which is a musuem.  For those not familiar with this statue, this is actually a famous photograph taken by a Time Life photographer.  World War II had ended and there was a huge celebration in Times Square in New York.  A lot of sailors were in the celebration.  One sailor was so excited that he grabbed a stranger that happened to be a nurse and kissed her.  This kiss was captured by a Time Life photographer to show the excitement in the air that special day.  It was a beautiful day for the dedication.  There were World War II veterans present there as well as a Pearl Harbor survivor.  Under the statue, approximately 11 couples from the WWII era renewed their wedding vows.  The couples were married from between 65-71 years which was amazing in itself.  There was also a plane flying overhead for the USS Midway Museum that said, "Kiss a Veteran" They even had singers singing sounds from that era.   I also shot some pictures of the USS Midway Ship which is right next to the park.  The statue is fitting to San Diego because of it's military history.  There was a radio station 95.7 Kiss FM there and they took our picture and put it on their website.  Daphne won a t-shirt from the radio station.  After the dedication, we walked along the wharf and looked at some other boats including a Holland America Cruise ship, a huge yacht, and the Star of India from the movie "Master and Commander".

Leo Carillo Ranch, Carlsbad, CA

The Leo Carillo Ranch Historic Park was once a 2,538 acre working rancho owned by the late actor, Leo Carillo.  It is now a 27 acre parcel owned by the City of Carlsbad.  Leo Carillo lived there with his wife Edith and their daughter, Antionette.  The rancho was called Rancho de los Quiotes (Ranch of the Spanish Daggers).  It represented a man's dream to connect with the proud memories of his past.  Construction of the ranch began in 1937 and finished in 1940.  Leo Carillo starred in many films but he was most famous for his role as Pancho Villa in the Cisco Kid.  The Cisco Kid was played by Duncan Renaldo.  It is a really neat place to visit with a lot of history.  There are also about 50 peacocks roaming the property.  We got to see a peacock with his feathers open, so I took a picture of the front and back of him.  The tour guide told us that the male peacock opens his feathers to woo the female showing off his beautiful feathers.  There is also a white peacock on the property.  It was a cool place to visit.  We also enjoyed all the peacocks running around in one place.