Mission San Miguel Arcangel

For those of you that grew up in California, you may remember learning about the California Missions as part of your 4th grade curriculum. Or, you may remember having to make models of them out of sugar cubes. I'm not sure whose bright idea it was to give 9 year olds free access to sugar, but it was definitely a fun project (and tasty, too).

A few years ago, I discovered that each of the 21 missions has a statue of Father Junipero Serra, and I've since stopped and taken a picture at each stop. I do this for no particular reason, other than the fact that it makes road trips a little more interesting.

On the drive down to San Luis Obispo, there were signs for at least 4 missions, but since I wasn't driving, I didn't feel right about asking for the detour. But after my friend asked about the El Camino Real bells that dot the 101, we happened to pass a sign for Mission San Miguel, and we made a quick stop to take some pictures. This is probably one of the oldest looking Missions I've visited so far, as a lot of them have been restored. One of these days I'll have to make the road trip down the 101 and hit up the ones I missed!