Hotel Mission de Oro was built and opened in 1974 by Jesus Monroy, who was inspired to recreate the mission in his fathers hometown of Tepoztlan in Morelos, Mexico.
We said a fond goodbye to Val and Garth on Saturday morning, after a run and swim (me) and a pancake breakfast fixed by Val...
We drove on dozens of small roads and minor highways to get from Chico to Walnut Creek where we charged up the car. We passed lots more orchards and a few small towns before getting into the more populated areas outside of San Francisco. Traffic was light, and the weather beautiful: sunny and in the high 70s. At one point, we drove through mounded hills that looked like the Palouse in Eastern Washington.
We arrived at Bills cousin Lynn and her son Chriss place in San Jose a little after 3:00pm. I drove that section and we had the most traffic so far on the trip. We had a lovely visit with Lynn and Chris, but it was much too short, since we wanted to get to our hotel well before dark.
The drive from San Jose to Santa Nella, where we are spending the night was beautiful: rolling hills, reservoirs, and many fruit stands. Our hotel, the Mission de Oro, was built in 1974 as a replica of a mission in Mexico.
We stopped for a bathroom somewhere near Yuba, and there were dozens of very handsome chickens and roosters living all around the shopping center!
The grounds are beautiful, and the rooms and pool are nice. It looks like it is a favorite of the heavily tattooed crowd, but is quiet at night. There are very formidable looking security guards, however.
Tomorrow we head further south, spending the night in Seal Beach with a friend of Bills, from the days he lived there in the early 1970s.
