It has become a bit of a tradition in recent years to book a last-minute road trip right as the winter school break comes to a close. This year we packed our overnight bags and pointed ourselves in the direction of the OC on a “mission” to visit San Juan Capistrano.

We invited Irene’s parents to join on this particular journey since we knew they would enjoy seeing Mission San Juan Capistrano and are always fun travelers in crime. We arrived at our destination by 10 a.m. and were able to get a much-earlier-than-usual check-in so we dropped off our stuff in the rooms, grabbed some coffee and were at the landmark mission by 11 a.m. – just a half-mile drive from the hotel.

Mr. V (as I have endearingly called Irene’s dad over the years) told me that he had not been back to SJC (“the birthplace of Orange County” as it’s known) since Irene was four, when she lost a bracelet during their first visit to the mission.

Strolling the beautiful mission grounds, with its central koi-filled fountain and stone ruins reminiscent of Rome’s Forum, we soaked in as much museum history as possible during our 3+ hours there, which included a brief break to dig into the picnic lunch we brought with us.

And let’s not forget the winged ambassadors of this mission – the swallows.

Famous for their annual return to the mission each March, the swallows’ nesting numbers have decreased over the years due to urbanization. Interesting swallow fact: While the cliff swallows are the species that have traditionally returned to the mission to build their wasp-like mud nests under the eaves of the buildings, the more social rough-winged swallows are newer to the mission and nest in colonies.

After we flew the mission coop, we all had enough energy left in us to explore the quaint surrounding environs and took the short three-block walk over to Los Rios Street, where there’s an Amtrak stop, and just across the tracks, some rustic dining and shopping establishments worth checking out.

For dinner, a Siri inquiry of “restaurants near us” yielded a waterfront seafood spot in neighboring Dana Point called Wind & Sea that turned out to be a very good choice — excellent calamari, swordfish, poke and happy hour drinks.

Everyone thought Dana Point was so nice, we decided to visit twice, so after a quick breakfast at the hotel on Day 2, we took a nice stroll on one of its cliffside beaches (Strands Beach) to stretch our overnight Daycation in the OC just a little bit further.

With photo ops around every corner, this post warrants its own mini photo gallery