A Three-Day Trip With a Mission : Specialist in pilgrimage tours will visit six of Father Serra’s legacies throughout California.

Adriatic Tours/American Journeys, San Pedro-based specialists in both mature travel and pilgrimage tours to religious shrines and destinations in the United States and Europe, has combined both in a three-day motor-coach tour of California missions.

The escorted tour includes visits to six of Father Junipero Serra’s missions between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Three missions--Santa Barbara, La Purisima Concepcion near Lompoc and San Miguel Archangel at San Miguel--are seen on the first day, followed by an overnight in Monterey.

The journey then follows the historic El Camino Real to Mission San Juan Bautista, north of Salinas, before reaching San Francisco, the next overnight stop. More sightseeing and a visit to San Francisco de Asis (Mission Dolores) is followed by a return to Los Angeles and one final mission, San Fernando Rey de Espana.

Priced at $238 per person, double occupancy, the California Mission tour has two departure dates--March 26 and May 28. Two full breakfasts and one lunch are included.

Adriatic Tours/American Journeys also offers a four-day Arizona motor-coach tour departing April 22. It includes stops in Phoenix and Scottsdale, plus visits to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Biosphere 2, the unique experimental glass-enclosed structure. There will be an opportunity to “meet” (through glass) some of the four men and four women “Biospheriands” who have been inside the facility for more than a year.

Cost is $295 per person, double, with two overnights in Tucson, one in Scottsdale, plus five meals.

George Mrkola, director of Adriatic Tours/American Journeys, says he also plans several one-day, three-mission motor-coach excursions to San Juan Capistrano and San Diego this spring for $55, but dates have not yet been finalized.

The tour wholesaler also offers tours and pilgrimages to such noted shrines as Fatima in Portugal and Lourdes in France, plus others in Italy, Ireland, Greece, Turkey, Poland and the Holy Land. While these trips are not available exclusively to mature travelers, most of the participants are seniors.

For more information, contact Adriatic Tours/American Journeys, 691 West 10th St., San Pedro 90731, (800) 262-1718 or (310) 548-1446.

Monarch butterflies are the reason for a two-day “Monarch Magic” motor-coach tour offered by Great Western Tours of Pasadena. The two-day tour departs Feb. 1 for Pismo Beach, one of the best spots to see the colorful butterflies.

In addition to an overnight stop, the tour, priced at $119 per person, double, includes lunch at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo and two more meals.

Great Western is also offering a two-day “Spring Blossom” tour to the fruit orchards of Central California. The tour, priced at $139, departs Feb. 25 and includes a visit and dinner show at the Kearney Mansion in Fresno, plus a tour of a miniature horse farm.

For more information, call Great Western Tours at (800) 344-7090 or (818) 578-1161.