"On a dark desert highway I heard the mission bells"

I get these ideas to explore our surroundings and luckily Damon goes along with most of them. I had always wanted to see the swallows return to the mission at San Juan Capistrano so one Saturday morning we boarded the Pacific Surfliner and headed south. It's a short little relaxing jaunt from LA's historic Union Station - a beautiful art deco building in downtown - to SJC in Orange county.

The train pulled up to the station - rather a break in the road - and the conductor called for us to quickly step off the platform as the train was only there a few seconds. It was late March and already warm so we wanted to get to the mission before the sweltering mid-day heat broke.

The "jewel of the missions" is among the oldest in California. An 1812 earthquake left the great stone sanctuary in ruins but other incarnations remain and are well-preserved. The gardens are exquisite from herbs and bees to roses and fauna. It is a lovely stroll over the grounds as lizards dart out in front of you and birds chirp all around. I'm not sure what kind of birds but they are NOT swallows. Not this year anyway. We didn't see one lousy swallow.

The mission was conceived of by the Franciscan sect of Spanish Catholics and built by native Indians indigenous to the San Diego area circa 1775. Exhibits of traditional life during this time period are on display. Everything is wonderful but let's be honest, besides the birds you go for the bells. And they are everything their reputation claims. The antiquity, the aesthetic, the tonal quality. Bellisimo!

Capistrano is full of so many delightful little surprises, like this dove whose made her home in a planter in the courtyard garden of a local boutique. San Juan is on the historic Camino Real and is an equestrian dream. These beauties were tied up under a shady tree along side the main highway.

Another reason to visit SJC is for the Ramos House Cafe. I saw an episode on California's Gold featuring this little gem in the old town district along the tracks. They are only open for breakfast and lunch and the menu is prix-fix. (And no Mexican). But the special thing about this place is the bloody mary. It's a meal on its own. They load it with crab legs, asparagus and just the right kick. Though the menu looked amazing, we opted not to eat here since we were really craving Mexican food. Turned out to be a good choice. I had THE BEST Chile Verde EVER. We strolled around old and neo-town in and out of thrift stores, home and garden boutiques and an architectural treat in its own right, the library where I picked up a coffee table book on Wild Africa for $2.00! We ended the day at a local saloon listening to a guy play the six-string guitar and patrons twirled around the old wooden floor under a sea of braziers and other "memorabilia ".

The train runs often throughout the day and we felt we'd had our fill so we moseyed on down to the tracks to wait for the sweet chariot to take us home, past what remains of Orange county's agriculture crops and back into the land of graffiti and traffic jams - the sound of mission bells being the soundtrack of our tales.