California as we know it today might not be the same were it not for a Spaniard named Junipero Serra.

Serra was a Franciscan friar who traveled to California in the late 18th century.

Here he founded nine of the state's 21 Spanish missions from San Diego to San Francisco.

His life and work is the subject of a new book called "Journey to the Sun."

The book's author Gregory Orfalea joins us now.