On Hwy-1, 66 miles South of San Luis Obispo. Californians know Lompoc for two things: the 100,000-acre Vandenburg Airforce Base, where missile and satellite guidance systems are tested (launches are frequent, look for the vapour trails above the ocean in the evening sky); and flowers, grown for the commercial potential of their seeds and covering the gently undulating terrain around the town each summer. The Lompoc Museum (http://www.lompocmuseum.org), 200 S. H Street, has a little on Chumash Indian life and plenty on the founding of the town, also its development. The catalyst for Lompoc’s creation was Mission La Purisima Conception, founded in 1787 in the present town center but, following an earthquake, subsequently moved to a location 4 miles east.

Don’t feel bad about missing the town, but if you miss the mission you should kick yourself. Although the second mission crumbled to ruins, a major restoration project on its site, La Purism Mission State Historic Park (http://www.lapurisimamission.org), began during the Depression and has resulted (so far) in 21 buildings being rebuilt by hand, using traditional methods and materials. The upshot is the most complete mission complex in the state and one that concentrates on the secular aspects – such as the bakery, the soap factory, the weaving room, the grain mill and the workshops – of mission life.