ST THERESE
Presents
CALIFORNIA’S SCENIC
& SPIRITUAL COAST
Featuring
San Francisco, Monterey, Carmel, Santa Barbara & Los Angeles
Hosted by Robert Joerger and Edward Beck
May XX – XX, 2022
“It is all so very beautiful and magical here—a quality which cannot be described.” So said famous photographer, Ansel Adams about California’s Pacific Coast Highway. Brisk, salty air flows throughout, sweeping curves captivate your senses and cliff-side views take your breath away. Taking a road trip down the Pacific Coast Highway feels like a right of passage, and reminds us that it’s as much about the journey as it is about the destination.
Included in this journey will be visits to several surviving Spanish missions that are the state’s oldest and most-visited historic monuments. A true way to experience first-hand at the first missions that opened in 1769 and were designed to spread Christianity in the State. Plus visits to the New Camaldori Hermitage in Big Sur, where the time clock stops when you arrive. As someone once said, “It is one experience in your life you might want to do before you die.” Or our stop at the Old Mission Santa Barbara with its world-famous twin bell towers. The Mission preserves an abundance of rich treasures that offer a unique perspective on the past and the humble spirit of St. Francis of Assisi.
Welcome from Fr Bob & Edward (need welcome message)
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ITINERARY
1st Day: Wednesday, May xx – Departure for San Francisco (D)
Optional morning Mass at St Therese. For those not joining the tour in Montauk or the East End, we meet at JFK. Then we board our coach to JFK for our flight to San Francisco. Upon arrival, we transfer to our reserved hotel accommodations and a bit of time to relax. Afterwards transfer to a local restaurant our Welcome to California dinner.
2nd Day: Thursday, May xx – In San Francisco (B)
After breakfast, we start our tour with to the Mission Dolores. Then onto Saint Mary’s Cathedral followed by a visit to the Shrine of St Francis of Assisi. We return to our hotel where we have the afternoon and evening free to explore San Francisco. Enjoy a spectacular cruise across San Francisco Bay. Visit Alcatraz. Do some shopping at Union Square. Take a ferry to Sausalito or Tiburon for lunch. Take the California St. cable car ride (skip the lines 
of the more popular route) from Embarcadero to the end, turn around and on the return trip get off at Grant Street. Walk through Chinatown, back around through North Beach. Have a drink at the Equinox Room at the Hyatt Regency for a great rotating view. This evening try one of the great San Francisco restaurants.
Or take an Optional San Francisco City Tour that features the Golden Gate, twin Peaks, Fisherman’s Wharf, Victorian houses, Lombard Street, Coit Tower, the Presidio, Mission Dolores and much more.
3rd Day: Friday, May xx – In To Monterey & Carmel by the Sea (B/L/D)
Today’s journey leads us from San Francisco along the picturesque and breathtaking coastline of the Pacific Ocean to historic Monterey where we will have a sightseeing tour of city featuring the colorful Cannery Row that was brought to life in the books of John Steinbeck. We also will see the famous aquarium. 
This will be followed by lunch at a local seaside restaurant before the high point of our travels today and that is experiencing the delight and coastal splendor of the world-renowned “17-Mile Drive” with its wild wind-swept cypress trees, frolicsome sea mammals, famous Pebble Beach golf course and tenacious Lone Cyprus. Continue to Carmel by the sea with its unique artistic flavor, where we will have our dinner and overnight accommodations.
4th Day: Saturday, May xx – To Big Sur and Santa Barbara (B/L/D)
After breakfast, we drive south along the Pacific Coast Highway to Big Sur, where the mountains drop right to the sea. Each turn offers new, awe-inspiring panoramas of some of the most breathtaking coastline found anywhere in the world. In Big Sur, we will stop at the New Camaldoli Hermitage. The road up to the Hermitage will offer you coastal views not to be seen anywhere along the Big Sur coast – simply one of the best in the world. It will take 
your breath away and you will feel like a bird. This visit alone will imprint you for the rest of your life. A bit of time to shop at their magnificent gift shop before we have lunch in Big Sur, we continue to San Simeon to visit wealthy newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst’s opulent majestic hilltop castle. Here we will view the splendid antiques, art treasures and exotic possessions housed on the 12-acre estate. Continue to Santa Barbara for our overnight and dinner.
5th Day: Sunday, May xx – In Santa Barbara. Visit to Montecito (B)
After breakfast we start the day with a visit and Mass at the Old Mission Santa Barbara with its world-famous twin bell towers. The Mission preserves an abundance of rich treasures that offer a unique perspective on the past and the humble spirit of St. Francis of Assisi. It fosters reverence, care and joy for all creation (people, creatures and environment) through witness to the Franciscan tradition, practicing radical hospitality and 
welcoming everyone to this gathering place of joy, learning, and spiritual reflection. Afterwards we will take a short scenic ride to Montecito. Montecito is home to some of the area’s most stunning stretches of coastline, from Fernald’s Point, past the calm waters of Miramar Beach and renowned surf break at Hammonds Point, to sparkling Butterfly Beach. The balance of the day is free for independent exploration. This evening try one of the wonderful Santa Barbara restaurants.
6th Day: Monday, May xx – To Santa Ines, Solvang and Los Angeles (B/L/D)
As we leave Santa Barbara, we take a sort of detour as we journey first to visit the Santa Inés Mission. The “hideden Gem” of the California Missions. The Mission was founded on September 17, 1804 by Father Estevan Tapis. It was named in honor of Saint Agnes, an early Christian martyr of the fourth century. The 
Spanish for Agnes is Inés, hence the name of the church. Then to Solvang, where Denmark has been recreated with picturesque buildings and windmills. A chance to browse through the charming shops featuring Danish specialties and time on our own to have lunch before we reboard our coach for Los Angeles with a stop at the Serra Retreat Center in Malibu. Check into our hotel for dinner and our overnight.
7th Day: Tuesday, May xx- In Los Angeles (D)
Morning program includes Mass at Our Lady Queen of Angeles Cathedral. Afterwards, the balance of the day is free for independent exploration. Maybe go to Venice Beach. This is one of the most interesting areas in L.A. to explore –
it’s a rough-around-the-edges, colorful, bohemian enclave. Or maybe do the Downtown Art Walk one way to experience the area’s robust art scene. So is so much to see in Los Angeles with its array of restaurants and bars that is clustered at the periphery. But as with Times Square, many visitors just prefer to stroll around this giant pedestrian zone, trying to take it all in. This evening try one of the city’s great restaurants.
Or take an Optional Los Angeles City Tour sightseeing of this gigantic metropolis starting from Olivera street, the oldest thoroughfare in the city, to Hollywood as you have an opportunity to step into the footprints of famous movie stars at Mann’s Chinese Theater, Sunset Strip and Rodeo Drive and Mulholland Drive for a spectacular view.
8th Day: Wednesday, May xx – In Los Angeles (B/D)
A full day free for independent exploration in the “City of Angels.” Maybe take a trip to Disneyland or Universal Studios. In the evening, we meet for our farewell dinner at local restaurant.
9th Day: Thursday, May xx – Back to NYC (B)
After breakfast, we transfer to the airport and our flight to JFK. Upon arrival we board our coach for the journey back to Montauk.
Special Features:
- Masses with Father Bob and Father Edward
- Welcome to California cocktail in San Francisco’s Monarch
- Visit to the magnificent New Camaldoli Hermitage Mission in Big Sur
- Visit to the Santa Ines Mission in Solvang, considered the Gem of California Missions
- Optional sightseeing tours in San Francisco and Los Angeles
- Sightseeing tour of Monterey
- Travel California’s famous “17-Mile Drive” coastal route
- Visit to William Randolph’s Hearst’s famed opulent hilltop castle
- Mass at the Old Mission Santa Barbara with its rich treasures
The Price Includes:
- Round trip transportation from the Montauk to JFK
- Round-trip air from JFK to San Francisco and return from Los Angeles
- Airport transfer to and from hotels
- 8 nights accommodations in First Class & boutique-style hotels
- Hotel taxes and service charges
- Breakfast every day
- Lunch as per itinerary (Day 3, 4 and 6)
- Dinners as per itinerary (Days 2, 3, 4 and 8)
- Sightseeing as per itinerary including entrance fees
- Deluxe coach transportation throughout the tour
- Fully escorted
Our Accommodations (or similar)
● In San Francisco – 2 nights @
● In Carmel – 1 night @
● In Santa Barbara – 1 night @
● In Los Angeles – 3 nights @
Please Read the Terms and Conditions for this Tour
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PRICE PER PERSON
Per Person in Double Occupancy
$XXXXX via check or money order
$3, XXXXX via credit card
Per Person in Single Occupancy Room
$4, XXXXX via check or money order
$4, XXXXX via credit card
Add to above costs:
*U.S. airline facility, security, taxes and Fuel Surcharge $XXX ($XXX via credit card)
*Prepaid Gratuities to drivers and guides $XXX ($XXX via credit card)
Optional Sightseeing Tours
*½ day tour San Francisco city sightseeing tour @ $
*½ day tour Los Angeles city sightseeing tour @ $
INITIAL DEPOSIT: $500 ($525 by credit card)
Deposit due as soon as possible to be assured space on this spiritual journey.
FINAL PAYMENTS due on or before March XX, 2022
If you have already registered online and require access to the PayPal payment page, click here.
Travel Insurance
RMC Travel highly recommends the purchase of Trip Cancellation/Interruption Travel Insurance, and we therefore provide you with an easy way to contact RMC’s preferred insurance provider, Allianz Global Assistance. If you need additional information or have questions, please call Allianz directly at 1-800-284-8300, and refer to code F025323.
Photo credits:
Mission Dolores: Photograph by Robert A. Estremo, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Cable Car & Alcatraz: Yair Haklai, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Carmel Mission: Dsdugan, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Lone Cypress: Gartenflo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Big Sur: catlin.wolfard, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Hearst Castle: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Mission Santa Barbara:Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Butterfly Beach: Niranjan Arminius, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Solvang: Dan Lindsay © 2011. Downtown Solvang in June 2011, via Wikimedia Commons
Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels: Los Angeles, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Hollywood Boulevard: Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Universal Studios tour: Anothercountry, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
After breakfast, our tour today begins with a drive on the Billy the Kid National Scenic Byway following this byway through the rugged beauty of the million-acre Lincoln National Forest. It takes us through Ruidoso and Ruidoso Downs to visit the Hubbard Museum of the West. Continue from the mountains following the Ruidoso Rio down Lone Pine Canyon to the grassland plains surrounding Roswell, NM. Here we will visit the UFO Museum learning about the event in 1947 that prompted a major uproar about whether or not a UFO actually crashed outside of Roswell. We can decide for ourselves about the flying saucer that allegedly crashed here in 1947. Whatever we decide, we are likely to be intrigued by the many exhibits and programs about the crash itself and the phenomenon of UFO research. Next we travel south along the 
Pecos River and the Brantley Lake State Park to Carlsbad and White City, home to Carlsbad Caverns. Here we will have a Park Ranger guide us at the Carlsbad Caverns National Park that showcases one of the most spectacular collections of caves anywhere in the world. Protecting over 100 caves with intricate stalactite and stalagmite formations Carlsbad Caverns was once the site of a complex ocean reef. Long after the waters receded, the area experienced a geologic uplift when the Guadalupe Mountains were formed, which disrupted the buried limestone reef and allowed for water to percolate through the sedimentary layers. Eons of undisturbed water erosion have created the caves, amphitheaters, tubes, and stalactite/stalagmite formations (some pushing 60 feet in size) including Lechuguilla Cave, which is the deepest limestone cave in the United States at 1,567 feet. Our visit to the Carlsbad Caverns is guaranteed to amaze and impress. Late afternoon we will drive back to the Inn of the Mountain Gods for our overnight.
This morning we will depart from the Inn of the Mountain Gods in Mescalero down from 7,000 feet, in the mountains through the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation to the desert landscape surrounding Alamogordo, NM and the White Sands National Monument at 4,000 feet. Rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin is one of the world’s great natural wonders – the glistening white sands of New Mexico. At the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert lies a mountain ringed valley called the Tularosa Basin. Rising from the heart of this basin is one of the world’s great natural wonders – the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert, creating the world’s largest gypsum dune field. White Sands National Monument preserves a major portion of this unique dune field, along with the plants and animals that live here. Here we will learn about the history, vegetation, flora and fauna of the area as we descend. After a talk at the White Sands Visitors Center and time to enjoy the Park exhibits, we will have a Park Ranger join our van to provide a narrative of the Park as we do a Park Loop road. You will have time during the tour to ask questions and interact with the Ranger. Continue to Alamogordo for lunch followed by a tour back up into the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation. The Mescalero people were nomadic hunters and gatherers and roamed the Southwest. 
They were experts in guerrilla warfare and highly skilled horsemen. The women were known for their ability to find and prepare food from many different plant sources. The people were given the name “Mescalero” because they gathered and ate the mescal plant. It was the staple of their diets and could sustain them in good times and bad. After a brief tour here, we continue through the beautiful mountains before returning to our hotel in the afternoon. Free time for golf, fishing or hiking. Overnight accommodations at the Inn of the Mountain Gods.
We have an early departure for our 4-hour drive to the Acoma Pueblo. A mid-morning stop at Los Lunas before we head onto the historic Route 66 and to the Laguna Pueblo A brief stop will be made at the overlook of the Laguna Pueblo for photos of the beautiful, whitewashed St. Joseph Church, constructed in 1699, continuing on Route 66 as we travel west arriving at the Acoma Pueblo, were we will learn about the people and visit the Sky City Cultural Center and Haak’u Museum. Here our Acoma guide will drive us to the top of the Mesa where we learn about the Acoma people, walk completely around the Mesa and learn about the history of the people, see where they still live in houses constructed in the 1600s and 1700s. After the tour, we continue to Santa Fe. via “Three Pueblos” as we learn about these historic Pueblos and their quest. Afternoon arrival in Santa Fe the capital of New Mexico, and a quintessential southwestern town for art, culture and history. Dominated by adobe buildings and pueblo style architecture, Santa Fe is home to hundreds of galleries, artisans and museums, all of which are heavily influenced by the beauty and immensity of the landscapes. Overnight in Santa Fe at the Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi.
Today we will tour the “High Road to Taos”. This historic, scenic road is filled with Spanish, Pueblo and Mexican history. We’ll see villages, Missions, houses, ranches and shops that date back to the 1600s and 1700s. A stop will be made at Chimayó, a traditional weaving village with galleries featuring work by award-winning weavers. Here we will find the 19th-century Santuario de Chimayó, known as the “Lourdes of the Southwest”, that attracts thousands of pilgrims each year, seeking the “miraculous dirt” on church property rumored to have healing powers. Continue through the towns of Cordova, Truchas and Ojo Sarco which all have great galleries selling woodcarvings, pottery, rugs and other local arts and crafts. In Las Trampas, San Jose de Gracia de las Trampas, an 18th-century mission church, is one of 
New Mexico’s best-preserved examples of Spanish Colonial architecture. At Peñasco we wind our way through the Carson National Forest to Ranchos de Taos. Here we’ll see the famous San Francisco de Asis Church, which has been photographed and painted by many artists. Then into Taos to explore its museums, galleries, shops and have lunch. Midafternoon departure to historic Taos Pueblo where we have a Tewa guided tour of the Pueblo, learning about this scenic, ancient structure nestled up against the highest mountains in New Mexico, Mount Wheeler. Late afternoon we tour back down the Rio Grande Valley the “low road” to Santa Fe arriving about dinner hour.
A free day in Santa Fe. For those looking to get the highlights of Santa Fe there are enough art galleries, museums, street vendors and interesting curio shops in Santa Fe to take up days. If there’s any doubt that Santa Fe is a prime destination for art lovers, Canyon Road quashes it. Situated just east of the Santa Fe Plaza, Canyon Road is home to a slew of art galleries selling renowned artwork from famed artists such as Fernando Botero and cultural treasures like hand-woven Navajo rugs and Southwestern wood carvings. The area is touted as an art lover’s Mecca because of the variety of mediums used to highlight art. Pop into the different galleries (there are more than 50) along the street and you’ll find everything from jewellery and pottery to sculptures and paintings. The street itself is also a feast for the eye. Many of the galleries found here are housed in historic adobe buildings laced with brilliantly colored flowers. Art installations are often showcased outside and the spicy odor of chili peppers wafts from the doorways of top-notch eateries like Geronimo Restaurant and Compound Restaurant. Overnight in Santa Fe.
Mescalero- The Inn of the Mountain Gods
An intimate world-class retreat, Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi celebrates the enduring creative spirit and traditions of the region’s early Native Americans, the city’s rich cultural heritage as an early Spanish establishment and its ongoing legacy as an artist colony. The name and interiors of this Santa Fe boutique hotel pay homage to the area’s native Anasazi tribe, while the handcrafted textiles, paintings, carvings and baskets that make up the hotel’s extensive art collection are a vivid blend of Native, Hispanic and Anglo influences. With the city’s historic plaza just steps from the hotel doors, this sterling example of Santa Fe luxury hotel is uniquely New Mexican.
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