I was born and raised in California and it’s only in the last few years that I’ve had the opportunity to travel much and visit other states. I didn’t realize that much of the country doesn’t know or understand the impact the early Spanish missionaries had on our state.

There are 21 missions surviving. I have always believed/heard/thought that the missions were built a day’s journey from each other. It makes sense, but I don’t know if I really did learn that or if it’s just something I heard once and figured it had to be true.

When our girls were in school, we visited many of the missions. San Gabriel, San Fernando. Carmel. Santa Barbara, Santa Ines.

This week we’re going to take our grand-daughter on her own mission tour. We’ll concentrate on Central Coast missions this time. We’re planning to visit San Juan Bautista, Carmel, San Miguel, San Luis Obispo, and La Purisma in Lompoc.

When you visit the east coast of our country, as I did for the first time in 2011, you get a feel for what youngsters we are in California. When the Declaration of Independence was being signed, California was a great unknown territory. Actually, everything west of the Mississippi was pretty much unknown.

Missions weren’t unique to California. Stud Muffin and I got to visit the Alamo in San Antonio last summer. The Alamo began life as a mission. It felt very familiar, with its adobe construction and grounds.

We’ll soon add a few more missions to our visited list. After this trip, we’ll only have Soledad and the six most northern left to visit. Santa Cruz, San Rafael, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Jose, and Solano. Maybe this summer …