I had a speech at the Hotel del Coronado in the morning, but then we met up in the afternoon with Linda, one of the first people I met when I moved to Sacramento in 1983. She lives in San Diego now and runs the youth education program at the San Diego mission. She gave us an insider's tour of historic church and grounds. This is California's first mission church, founded by Father Junipero Serra in 1769 and is still an active parish church. As a basilica, it has special ceremonial rights bestowed by the Pope and, if the Pope ever visited San Diego, this is the church where he would worship. Of course, like any urban church, it has its modern day issues, such as the tendency for one of the statues in the mission gardens to get beheaded following every Chargers game at nearby Qualcomm Stadium.
Afterwards, we drove over to do some sightseeing in Balboa Park and then to Seaport Village before taking the last flight home.
