Someday I’ll get to all 21 missions along El Camino Real, but for my first-ever mission visit, I had to choose a starting point. Who wouldn’t pick the one used in an Alfred Hitchcock film? And one starring Jimmy Stewart, no less! I mean, come on.

Though you’d never know it from the sun and balmy temperature, I was there in late winter. So I only had to share the place with the birds. (Not Hitchcock’s Birds, thankfully…)

Actually, I was so bowled over by the beauty and tranquility of the place that I was sorely tempted to ditch my itinerary and spend the rest of my life trip here.

I think I picked the right mission, don’t you?