Riding El Camino Real~~

Today’s post is about the trip back home on a very overcast day, and the photos were taken from the car. Coming home from Santa Barbara this afternoon we drove through part of California’s historic El Camino Real (the Royal Road). This refers to the 600-mile (966-kilometer) California Mission Trail, connecting the former Alta California’s 21 missions, stretching from Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego in the south to Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma in the north.The Camino Real today includes portions of U.S. Route 101, California State Route 1, California State Route 82 in the San Francisco Bay Area, and San Diego County Route S11. A nice reminder that you are in the Camino Real is that in its entire extent you’ll see distinctive bells, hung on supports in the form of a shepherd’s crook, also described as “a Franciscan walking stick.” As you can see, I’m a real sucker for these things… 🙂