On July 4th weekend, Tori and I drove up to San Juan Capistrano for the day. Our first stop, Los Rios Historic District is the oldest continually occupied neighborhood in the state, first settled in the late 1700's while the Spanish Mission was being built. We have only visited it at night so it was nice to walk along Los Rios Street during the day and see all the historical buildings from the 1800's. Three of the original adobes still survive from where the Indians, soldiers and workers lived outside the mission. We had fun stepping inside the rusty metal jail cell from the 19th Century that still stands outside the Silvas Adobe.
After walking around the district for an hour, we stopped for an afternoon snack at the Ramos House Cafe next to the train tracks. The Hush Puppies with Avocado Aioli & Pepper Jam were really good. We also shared the tasty Apple Cinnamon Beignets. After eating, we walked through the small Butterfly Sanctuary near the Montanez Adobe. The butterflies flittered too fast among the flowering plants for me to capture a good picture.
Driving east from San Juan Capistrano, we took the Ortega Highway through the Cleveland National Forest to the Ortega Falls. It was Tori's first time on this scenic drive through the Santa Ana Mountains, but I used to drive it all the time with my father on the way to visit my grandparents in Lake Elsinore. After a short but steep hike, we reached the Ortega Falls at the bottom of the canyon. The San Juan Creek was just a trickle, but it was fun to visit the creek where my father would stop for us to go swimming.
Despite the 100 degree heat, we found cool place to relax under a shady tree, listening to the splashing water of the falls. After cooling off, I trekked upstream, climbing over boulders to find a larger waterfall. The pool at its base would be a great swimming hole after the rainy season. It's a bummer that most of the natural rocks are defaced with graffiti. On the way back, I saw a swimming snake that caused me to stumble and twist my wrist as I caught my balance on a rock.
After an exhausting climb back up to my truck in the heat, we continued on to the Lookout Roadhouse with an awesome view of Lake Elsinore, the largest natural freshwater lake in Southern California. My grandfather was a mayor of this city in the 1980s after he retired from being a Fire Chief. It was even hotter, 108 degrees, on this eastern side of the mountains so the icy glass of Hard Cider at the roadhouse really hit the spot before we drove back to San Juan Capistrano.
Visiting the Mission San Juan Capistrano for the first time since I was a little boy was a memorable moment for me since both my grandmother and father are enrolled in the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians that once lived and worked at this mission in the 18th and 19th centuries. Juaneños is the Spanish name for the native Acjachemen who lived in the village where the Padres founded their mission.
The ruins of the original Great Stone Church still stand, destroyed by a powerful earthquake in 1812, six years after it was built. The quake occurred during the Sunday morning mass, the collapsing roof killing 40 native worshippers and the two boys ringing the tower bells.
On the other side of the Great Stone Church is the Priest's Sacred Garden, where the brick bell wall, a campanario, was quickly built to hang the four bells from the collapsed bell tower. The two smallest bells are originals but the larger two have been replaced by replicas.
The Serra Chapel returned to being the mission's main church after the collapse of the Great Stone Church. The small chapel was built in 1782 and is the oldest building still in use in California and is the only remaining church where Father Junipero Serra was known to have officiated. The rest of the mission compound's quadrangle serves as a museum, with many rooms documenting the lives and activities of the inhabitants.
After drinks at the Swallows Inn, we ate dinner at the Bloom Restaurant + Bar that sits across the street from the mission. We shared the Rosemary Focaccia Bread and the awesome Crispy Zucchini Flowers Stuffed with Creamy Manchego Cheese & Roasted Garlic. I could not pass up the perfect-tasting Baked Potato Soup so I barely had any room for my Mexicali Burger. The queso fresco on it was perfect. Tori has returned to being a vegetarian recently so she enjoyed the Selection of Farmer's Market Vegetables served with Italian Farro.
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