It had been awhile since my girlfriends and I had gone on an adventure exploring a new place in Los Angeles.  So, this weekend a couple of us decided to drive east and check out the San Gabriel Mission.  San Gabriel and East LA are known for asian food.  So, our adventure began with us driving around circles in search of a great noodle shop or Vietnamese restaurant.  We finally settled on a quaint Chinese restaurant.  The man who took our order did not speak English and we really weren’t sure exactly what we were ordering, but that is all party of the adventure!  What we ended up with was some delicious, albeit very spicy, Chinese food.  After we stuffed ourselves to capacity we were ready for the Mission.

For those of you not familiar with a Spanish Mission, the purpose was to spread Christianity to Native Americans, and ultimately create “civilized” citizens.  There are 21 Spanish Missions across California.  I find the missions interesting for multiple reasons, 1.) My native American Background, 2.) These are the oldest structures in California, and 3.) This is a very interesting aspect of California’s history that is much different than the colonization on the east coast.

The San Gabriel Mission was founded in 1771.  The architecture is not the most interesting compared to the two other missions I’ve been too.  However, I was impressed by their engineering.  They built an aqueduct using clay pipes which brought in water from the San Gabriel Lake.  The fact that they were able to have running water at the mission, in an area that was undeveloped during the 1800′s was really incredible.

Enjoy the highlights from the San Gabriel Mission and I look forward to sharing more weekend adventures with you soon.

An interesting gate in the city of San Gabriel

Exterior of San Gabriel Mission

The Alter of the Church

Famous people who have visited the Mission

* All pictures cc jnicole photography