Los Rios Historic District - San Juan Capistrano CA

The Los Rios Street area is the oldest neighborhood in California. It was home to the workers that built the Mission at San Juan Capistrano. The road also connected the area to San Juan Bay (now Dana Point Harbor). The road was used to take cow hides processed at the Mission to the bluffs at Dana Point. Here they were tossed off the bluffs for collection on the beach below. (more here)

Los Rios Historic District is still home to some local residents. Their homes are now part of an historical neighborhood. There are also shops, restaurants, artists studios and a museum. Lots to see and do in the area.

We spent some time walking along the quaint residential streets.

We also stopped in at the O'Neill Museum - Pryor House. The museum is also home to the San Juan Capistrano Historical Society.

The house was restored by the Historical Society and furnished with period pieces including furniture and household items.

The Los Rios Historic District is right across the way from the San Juan Capistrano train depot. (Our tour guide from OC Wildlife and Beach Tours mentioned that you can take the Amtrak train into the station from some of the surrounding communities.) A highlight for fourth graders I understand, that come to take a tour of the Mission for school. 

My sister in law joked that we saw the same 15 mile stretch of coast over and over again during our visit. And that may be but like I told her it's a hell of a 15 miles. The areas we visited were beautiful. While we saw and did a lot during our very short visit I'm already plotting out our next visit. (Hurray for Hollywood!)

Happy travels!

This plaque is set in the sidewalk leading up to the O'Neill Museum. I wonder what's inside?

OC Wildlife and Beach Tours - Laguna Hills, California

  

OC Wildlife and Beach Tours has closed

When the Dining Companion and I were visiting Southern California we took a tour with OC Wildlife and Beach Tours. They offer both group and private tours and we ended up with what amounted to a private tour that included me, the Dining Companion, my sister in law and our tour guide Cheri. Our 4 hour tour (we did the Orange County tour) took us to Dana Point and Laguna Beach (the California Riviera I was told) and also included the Mission at San Juan Capistrano.

Cheri picked us up at the hotel and we were off to the Mission. (More about that in a later post) Having seen some of the many Spanish missions in Texas I was very interested in getting to see one of the most iconic missions in California. The Mission that the swallows still return to each March 19th. 

After we toured the Mission at San Juan Capistrano we headed over to Dana Point. There is a trail/walkway that follows a bluff that sits high over the beach. It's such a beautiful area and the views are amazing.

This part of the bluff trail was known as the Hide Trail. As I understand it cow hides were thrown off the ridge and gathered below to be loaded onto waiting ships. There's a statue showing a sailor tossing a hide and a plaque that explains why.

Houses line the ridge and the trail passes along beside them. At one point a business man, S.H. Woodruff, got the idea to build a resort along the bluff. Sadly his timing was off and all that remains of his dream are three arches that still stand on the spot today.

 

After our walk along the Bluff Top Trail we headed to Crescent Bay Point Park in Laguna Beach. Crescent Bay Point Park lies along the bluffs of Cliff Drive in North Laguna. From this vantage point you can view cormorants and California sea lions on the rocks. Cheri brought along binoculars so that we could get an up close look.

 

Although just about impossible to see in these photos there are sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks

Also located in the park area a couple of life sized statues of the California Sea Lions and Cormorant.

If you plan to be in Southern California and are looking for a fun group or family activity I would recommend that you check out OC Wildlife and Beach Tours. Our tour guide Cheri was knowledgeable about the area, came prepared to answer all of my dumb tourist questions and even provided us with cold drinks and snacks. It was interesting and I learned about the history of the areas we visited.

To risk sounding like a broken record (funny, "sounding like a broken record", that really isn't going to mean anything to a good many people in the not too distant future)...anyway, there is more to come. We visited the Mission at San Juan Capistrano, ate at some good local places and just had a flat out good time.

Happy travels!

California here we come!

The Dining Companion and I spent the long holiday weekend in California. We were there visiting the  DC's sister and we all spent the weekend touring around the Newport Beach area.

What a beautiful part of the country. We had perfect weather the entire time we were there and got to enjoy lots of time outside. It's easy to see why so many people love it. Every day that we were there was picture perfect.

I'll cover some of what we did over the next few weeks. There was just so much to do and our time was so limited that we never even made it to LA. (That's definitely on our list for a future trip.)

I don't know why it took us so long to finally make this trip. It was the first time that either of us had been to California but it absolutely won't be the last.

Happy travels!