Author Archives: Marylea

My Roman Holiday: The Colosseum

I’m not really sure how it started. How I thought I wanted to visit the Colosseum on Good Friday. It felt like the Catholic answer to Mecca for me. Like I had to do it just once in my life,…

Mission Monday:Mission San Juan Batista

The last of California’s Spanish Plazas is surrounded by the largest of the Spanish Missions, Mission San Juan Batista, the last unpaved portion of California’s historic El Camino Real, an old adobe convent that was once part of the mission…

My Roman Holiday: San Giovanni Rotondo

Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony, please come around, something is lost that must be found. What is lost? Me in this post. I’ve labored over it for weeks. I finally had my husband proof it for me, and well, it sucked….

Mission Monday: San Antonio de Padua

The California Mission Trail runs North and South through coastal towns and the inland hills. Alto California’s “El Camino Real” or The Royal Road was the King’s highway in Spanish Colonial times. El Camino Real is now part of California’s Hwy 101…