An hour south of Los Angeles, you’ll find the ruins of Mission San Juan Capistrano. The mission, built by Spanish Catholics, was founded in 1775 and then again in 1776 – being one of the few missions to have been founded twice. Today, much of the mission remains and is peaceful experience, especially for those who are interested in history or 18th century architecture. The mission today holds a museum, wonderfully planted gardens, fountains, and more. They also provide docent and self guided tours. My visit to SJC was short, but pleasant. Given I was limited in time, I took the self guided tour and more or less just wandered around to take in as much as I could; however, I could see spending the better part of a day there if time permitted. Along with a look into the daily life of how many previous human inhabitants lives, the mission is also home to a flock of cliff swallows. These swallows return each year in March from Argentina to make their mud nests all around the mission grounds. Although I recently read the birds are starting to prefer nesting places north of San Juan Capistrano due to urbanization in the area, I was fortunate enough to visit while they were plenty abundant. My SAS score: 4