See that mountain in the background on the left hand side?
See those specs of white on that?
Snow. In Tucson (ish).
The mountains in the background are the Santa Ritas, by the way, one of 5 mountain ranges that surround Tucson. Santa Ritas are in the Southeast, the Catalinas are North, the Tortolitas are Northwest, the Tucsons are West, and the Rincons are to the East.
The white building in the foreground is the San Xavier del Bac Mission, also called the White Dove of the Desert. Jesuit missionary Father Kino founded the original mission in 1700, and this structure was built in 1783.
Someday I’ll head down there and take pictures - it is reputed to be one of the finest examples of mission architecture in the United States, blending Moorish, Byzantine, and late Mexican Renaissance architecture.
In the meantime, you can look through some other folk’s fabulous images of the mission on Flickr, here.
