I dream of going on religious pilgrimages. Santiago de Compostela, Dharmasala, Canterbury, and the 88 temples of the island of Shikoku call out to me, and some day I will answer each of their quiet but persistent summons. To satisfy my need for immediate gratification however, I’ve devised a year-long pilgrimage here in Orange County, California.

I know, the OC is more famous for scantily-clad worshippers of sun and wave than for its modest pilgrims. Its primary Mecca has as its presiding priests a big round-eared Mouse and a duck with no pants. But beneath the blonde and white (albeit suntanned) veneer, is a surprisingly diverse county. The OC is home to more than a million Hispanics/Latinos, the nation’s largest Vietnamese population, and the biggest annual gathering of Persians outside of Iran.

I figure there has to be enough religion to keep a Mormon boy on his toes for a year. Here’s my plan: I’d like to pay my respects at 25 different places of worship this year. I will write up my experiences and post them here. Hopefully you���ll add fresh insights.

The pilgrimage is complicated in part by my need to maintain some level of regular attendance at my LDS congregation (where I teach Elder’s Quorum one Sunday each month). This, and balancing school and work and family concerns, keeps me from visiting a different spiritual locale each week. Still, I’m excited about this journey.

To try another metaphor, I realize that I live deep in an incredible religious smorgasbord. I’ve gone straight for the creamy mashed potatoes of Mormonism for years now, and I’m ready to try some of yams and spicy curries and pickled herring and tsampa and 24 varieties of dried plums. I realize that I’m not going to be able to do anything more than get a brief taste of each. Maybe this is more of a wine tasting–I’ll sip and savor and move on to the next. Hopefully a taste of each will linger on my spiritual palate.