La Purísima Concepción is, after Mission San Antonio, probably my favorite Spanish
mission.  It's run by the California Park Service, which has done a good job of preserving
the site to appear as it would have in the days of the conquistadores, except for the
200-foot revolving-restaurant tower that blinks WELCOME TO LA PURISIMA in
garish neon lights, as well as the casino and nightclub where singer Tony Orlando
has headlined since 1982.



 
I'm just kidding.  The Park Service has maintained the mission in a very
nice way.  Incidentally, "La Purísima Concepción" translates as "The Super-Pure
Conception," referring to the fact that God never laid a finger on the Virgin Mary,
and not, as so many people believe, that Jesus was created in a test tube.