Yesterday was a beautiful day and perfect for a ride on our motor scooters. We headed  into the canyon past Cook’s Corner. A big favorite with local motorcyclists. There is always an enormous crowd on weekends and especially onSundays. We made our way along the curving tree lined road past O’Neil Park, eventually reaching the coast, where we turned south to San Clemente. As we passed Doheny State Beach, I could smell the smoke from smoldering beach fires and I was also aware of the smell of sea weed and salt water. All of these reminded me of  high school summers spent at Huntington Beach.

We turned around in San Clemente and headed home through San Juan Capistrano, with all of its memories.

The first time I set foot in the beautiful gardens of the Mission San Juan Capistrano I was twelve years old and living in Toronto, Canada. We were visiting relatives who had moved to California. I remember how amazing the mission was to me. Two years later my family moved to Southern California. One thing about riding a scooter, it gives you lots of time to think, especially if traffic is lite. As an adult I worked for a dentist in Capistrano and stabled a horse there as well. So many happy memories of time spent there came back to me as we rode along.

Then  it was time to eat and we stopped to grab a quick burger. You can probably guess where the quickest stop was. Yep, McDonald’s.  I felt like I had spent the day in a time wharp, so when we stepped into the Ladera Ranch McDonald’s which happenes to be decorated with a 50s theme I just had to take a photo of the wall.  We had chosen the perfect place to eat after a memory filled day.