San Xavier del Bac Mission Church and Alpine Grill-Fest (Tucson, AZ)

When I left you in my last post, we had just finished touring the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and plugged our second destination for the day into the GPS.  We drove the ~20 miles back down Interstate 19 to the San Xavier del Bac Mission Church, aka “The White Dove of the Desert”.  Click HERE for a link to their website for a “virtual tour”.

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The Mission Church website claims that this is the oldest intact European structure in Arizona!  The church’s interior is filled with marvelous original statuary and mural paintings. It is a place where visitors can truly step back in time and enter an authentic 18th Century space.

The San Xavier Mission was founded as a Catholic mission by Father Eusebio Kino in 1692. Construction of the current church began in 1783 and was completed in 1797.  It is a national historic landmark that still retains its original purpose of ministering to the religious needs of its parishioners.

Here’s a highly detailed diorama that is on display near the inner courtyard.

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A tour of the courtyard(s):

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When we first arrived, a catholic mass was already in progress.  Stilla enjoyed taking part in the service, and afterwards we toured the main church.

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After our tour of the historic church, we hurried straight back to the FamCamp to release our little dog “Coach” from his solitary confinement.  And also, we had an important dinner date scheduled with our fellow Alpine Coach friends Tom and Marilyn Anteau to get back to…

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, Tom and Marilyn hail from Anchorage, Alaska.  Therefore, Tom was in custody of some fine Alaskan shrimp known as “spots”.  They invited us to partake in a mini-grillfest with these fine “spots” as the “guests-of-honor” 🙂

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Man, were they ever good!  Thanks Tom!

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We also had a side dish of tasty rice that Marilyn cooked up along with a German-style salad that Stilla put together.  Yum!

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We had to secure little “Coach” in the pickup to keep him from begging too much during our dinner; which didn’t work so well, he just begged from afar 🙂

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We enjoyed dessert(s), (yes, plural), and each other’s company until the sun went down.

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We hope to see Tom and Marilyn again at the next Alpine Coach “Desert Rat Rally” in Quartzsite scheduled for January.  But then again, you never know; it’s a small RV world out there after all.

We said our fond farewells and went back to our Coach to rest our weary feet.  Safe travels Tom & Marilyn… til next time!

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we plan to pack up and move over to the Escapees (SKP) RV Park in Benson, AZ.  Our time here really went fast.  Stay tuned for more adventure…  we plan on visiting Tombstone and Bisbee for starters…