22 OCTOBER 2012: LA PURISIMA MISSION, LOMPOC

Day 35:

Everyone we spoke to about it couldn't understand why we would want to go to Lompoc, but Sue had kept a Road Trip article from the Sunday Times (17/06/2012) that said it was a place to go...so we decided to give it a try.
What's there? A large Federal Penitentiary (prison), Vandenberg Air Force Base, NASA and a Spanish mission. Guess which one we were headed for?

Arroyo Grande:
We stopped here for coffee en route to Lompoc, and really liked it. It had the feel of a 'real' place.....

.....with a sense of humour.

La Purisima Mission:

Just outside Lompoc is this Mission, the 11th of 21 missions established by Spanish Franciscan friars, and paid for by Spain, in 1787 to colonise California. Spain's control of the area was waning in the face of competition from Mexico so the Spanish aimed to Christianise the local Chumash Indians so they would become Spanish citizens and build New Spain.
The Spanish aim was unsuccessful. By 1821 Spain had abandoned Alta California and cut off all financial aid to the missions. They were handed over to Mexico but declined so much that by 1846, when America claimed California, little remained.
This decline was only halted in the 1930s, when as part of Roosevelt's 'New Deal', the CCC  (Civilain Conservation Corps) began a restoration project. Sue was particularly fascinated by this having taught this period of American History for many years.

Before we set off to explore the restored Mission buildings we went to the Visitors' Centre where we were fortunate to meet  Mr. George Corrales ( a lively and positive-thinking 88 year old) who gave us loads of interesting information about what we were about to see. Hopefully Mr Corrales is reading this now on his internet TV!

A confessional box.

Hopefully Steve wasn't as bored as he looked!

Outside were reconstructions of the areas where the Chumash Indians had lived.

Similar to the Navajo hogans we'd seen in Utah.....

....but the Chumach did not weave the reeds, just hung them over poles to create walls.

3rd. Presidential Debate:
As luck would have it, we were able to watch all of this last debate in the Hospitality Lounge (free wine, beer, nibbles) of the hotel we were in that night. We could also gauge the reaction of others watching (generally pro-Obama) and to have a quick chat about it later with a lady who was working there (very much pro-Obama and fearful of a Romney foreign policy). All the news coverage of the election we've seen here....and we've seen a lot.....has been pretty light-weight and superficial to our mind, so the length and detail of this debate was quite a contrast. So much so, it was difficult to concentrate on all that was said.