Mission of Nombre de Dios Report: Spectacular Walk...

Early Saturday morning, my wife and I stopped into Mission of Nombre de Dios which has a huge 208ft high cross visible for miles. The grounds are absolutely beautiful and there was a certain smell and sound to the calm morning which in my mind translates to Florida.

In the same way that certain colognes or perfumes or scents can take you back to specific places in time, I am also perceptive to these sounds that remind me of getting up early and listening to whatever noises nature has to offer, the birds, squirrels and perhaps a barking dog off in the distance. These sounds remind me of camping or on occasion, the neighborhood my great-grandparents lived in near the Hillsborough River in Tampa; and between the sounds and the damp, musty smell of Florida, it was quite a memory jogger.

Regardless of your faith or lack of it, you can enjoy visiting a place for its historic value and for the great care that others have given to make it a place of beauty and of quiet reflection. I didn't do a whole lot of reflecting, but as my wife followed the path from monument to monument, I did take in the beautiful weather and scenery. So without any further fanfare, I offer you pictures of what we saw.

First,the cross which seems to mark the first Catholic Mass performed in the US. No, they didn't have aluminum back then or a crane to hoist it in place - this one was put up in the 70's. The 1970's.As we walked over this bridge, the gulls seemed to lift off the railing as if they were doing the wave for us, and then they would return to their perch as soon as we were by them. A single picture doesn't do it justice, but posting ten pictures of birds on a bridge might seem a bit over done.This is an 11ft tall statue of Father Francisco Lopez. He is the guy who gave the first mass here. I don't believe he was actually 11 feet tall in life.Here is the small chapel and shrine of Our Lady of La Leche. I'm not sure if this is any relation to the breastfeeding people, but it was a very nice chapel.As we wandered through the cometary, we happened upon a marker for a young child who my family believes to be a relative of my great-grandmother. This Colee baby only lived about three months back in the 1800's.

I actually took a boat load of pictures from this place, but the links above have pictures with complete descriptions if you have an interest in things of this nature.