Day-cation

As a birthday present to BDF, I planned a surprise day-cation to explore the town of San Juan Capistrano. We saw so much, practiced taking lots of photos, and ate too much. Our day of moderation, in pictures (and a couple lists).

[From one train...]

[...to another. I love public transit!]

[Los Rios Historic District]

[Beautiful Mission San Juan Capistrano]

[The remains of the church. So big and beautiful, more so bc they're ruins]

If you're planning to visit San Juan Capistrano, I recommend a day trip only because there are just enough things to see and do in 1 day, but no more than that.

Eats:
Cafe Dulce (Little Tokyo) - coffee and pastries always delicious
Sundried Tomato (San Juan Capistrano) - wow so delicious! We stumbled upon it bc the other places I researched were closed. I really liked their soup. Great salty American food!
The Vintage Steakhouse (San Juan Capistrano) - American steakhouse serving California wines. We had a ridiculously large amount of food at a good price bc of a crazy 4-course Groupon deal. I liked my salad, twice baked potatoe side, and dessert (of course). Steak was okay.

Sights:
Los Rios Historic District - small area still functioning as a residential neighborhood, complete with petting zoo and adobe houses
Mission San Juan Capistrano - scenic and interesting. Took about 2 hours to wander through.
Huge antique mall - Fun to wander around, but didn't find much worth taking photos of or buying. I wasn't looking very diligently though.
The Massage Associates - yep. Found them through good reviews on Yelp.

Public Transit:
Amtrak - Nice, smooth ride, and relatively short (1 hr, 40 min). San Juan Capistrano is very small and walkable - you definitely don't need a car there. We loved it!
Metrolink - Also available from Union Station