My last day in Orange County, and luckily Barb managed to get today off so we could spend it together taking a leisurely drive down to the San Juan Capistrano Mission, home to the oldest building in California still in use and the site of the very first vineyard ever planted in California in 1779. This is where I learnt that Adobe is not just the name of a software company, it was originally a type of natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material. The Mission was built out of Adobe bricks. A beautiful set of buildings filled with amazing history in a really lovely little town, with the nicest Starbucks I have ever been into.

From there we drove up the famous Pacific Coast Highway to take in some of the sights, including some of the locations used in one of my favourite TV shows “The OC”, ie Newport Beach.

The most entertaining part of the drive was this tiny little car ferry that holds about 4 cars and takes you across the water for all of about one minute to a very exclusive area called Balboa Island. From there we drove to an authentic Mexican restaurant where my friends Amy and Barb always go for margaritas every time Amy is in town – I can see why, it was groovy, the food was great and the margaritas were delicious – a lovely way to end my stay in Orange County. Tomorrow I fly to San Francisco for the third and final part of my amazingly awesome holiday.