Mission: Possible

I've spent a lot of time in and around churches over the holidays, much more than I usually do  . In addition to our recent visits to Main Plaza and San Fernando Cathedral, I paid an overdue repeat call on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River just before Christmas.

The kids and I broke up a strenuous cycling workout with a delightful lunch at Blue Star, and equally enjoyable tours of two of our National Park (and World Heritage-worthy) missions.

The one above is the lovely Mission Concepción. Since the last time I visited here, we couldn't go in, and I didn't take as many pictures there as at the other missions, I tried to make up for it this time. 

Besides its handsome exterior and grounds, the interior of Concepción is really its highlight. The colorful decorations on many of its interior walls have been restored, and I was very much looking forward to seeing them this time. Here are a couple of glimpses:

the altar, with restored decorative walls

a lovely multi-colored lantern

Some of the other walls have not yet been restored...

this room will be great when they do the restoration!

barrel-vaulted ceiling in one of the side rooms with charming decorations

And here are some more shots of Concepción's impressive exterior:

Off to one side of the grounds, there's a grotto built out of amazingly hole-y (pun intended) chunks of limestone...

And we learned that we probably aren't the most famous people to visit this mission...

probably while he was in town recruiting for the Rough Riders?

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The mission I told you the most about last time was San José. We did visit it again on this trip, and found it just as impressive as ever...

...inside and out...

In case you're wondering about the title for this post, our exercising/sight-seeing excursion was made possible by the wonderful Mission Reach trail, and I thought it was fitting to acknowledge that. More about our transport between missions next time.