Wandering the Backroads of San Diego County - Santa Ysabel to Pala to Fallbrook

I met up with a friend on Monday morning for a drive around the backroads of San Diego County, looking for interesting things to photograph.  It was cloudy and gray when I left home, but in mountains farther inland the skies were blue, with the occasional cloud to add some interest.

We met in Santa Ysabel, at the Julian Pie Company main bakery, and of course we had to have a piece of pie and coffee for second breakfast. This is the Apple-Mountain Berry Crumb.

Our first stop was the little Mission chapel at Santa Ysabel. This facility was a sub-mission or outpost of the Mission at San Diego; the first chapel was built in 1823. The current building dates to 1924.

From Santa Ysabel we drove west towards the Mission at Pala, with a stop along Mesa Grande Road to get some shots of an abandoned barn.

The Mission at Pala, like the one in Santa Ysabel, is a sub-mission, but this one is connected to the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia at Oceanside. The Mission San Antonio de Pala has been in use since it was founded in 1816. It is the only one of the original California missions still ministering to Native American people. 

It's a little hard to see in the photo above, but there is a cactus growing on the top of the bell tower. The sign nearby says that Father Peyri, the Franciscan priest who founded the Mission, climbed up there in 1816 to place the cross to symbolize that construction was complete, and also planted a small cactus while he was up there.

We went into downtown Fallbrook for lunch, where we found some old buildings, a cup of espresso, and even some Italian candy.

All in all it was a pretty good day. Mitch and I found lots of interesting subjects for our cameras, met some interesting people, and found some good food too.

Click here to see more images from Monday February 18, 2013.