Ronald Reagan Library

The weeks leading up to this vacation week were filled with "What shall we do while we are there?".  The obvious "Disneyland", and "Universal Studios" immediately headed the list.  I checked out Jeopardy (Yea, I'm a geek) but they aren't taping this week.  The SCQueen caught a "100 years of Reagan" or somesuch on the tube.  She asked how close it was to the timeshare.  A quick mapquest check showed 100 miles and just under 2 hours one way without traffic.  Ok this is LA, when is there NOT traffic?  The "with traffic" time pushed beyond 3 hours.

Uggg.  But I talked to a local that had spent some time there and his only regret was that he didn't have more time to spend.  OK because I love my wife and this is a one time deal, "We'll" make the drive*.

And it's well worth the trip.

The Library is set up to chronologically follow his life from school years to early career, acting roles and into politics.   He was governor of my home state for several years before I became politically aware.  Still I am proud to have cast my first presidential vote for Reagan late in 1980.  It was the first and possibly only "affirmative" for a presidential candidate.  1984 was even easier.  Most if not all of the rest have been "negative" votes against the other guy.   The lesser of two evils.

I recall this statement. This is the statement of an office holder that understands the shareholder-employee relationship. Contrast that with the current residents "I won, you lost" attitude.

The oval office is an exact replica of the Oval Office as it was during his watch.  I should have taken more pictures to splice together *sigh* my career as a photographer is a history of regrets and "almost great" shots.  This is yet another one.

The Hinckley assassination attempt was covered in dramatic fashion.    I guess I never realized the attempt was made with a .22 revolver.  The exhibit shows a like model Rolm RG-14 revolver.

The collapse of the Berlin wall was a significant portion of the visit.  The portion of Reagan's speach "...Mr Gorbachev, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!" was in heavy rotation,

The SCQueen asked a nearby docent if she gets tired of hearing that line.  She answered "Never!  I hear that line hundreds of times a day and I never tire of it."  Amen.

The current 747 based Air Force One 28000 was ordered during Reagan's  second term but not delivered until the HWBush's term. 

What do you suppose this bad boy is worth:

S&W .44 Magnum base price (est) $1500
Optional engraving with gold inlay  $5000
Owned by President Ronald Reagan:PRICELESS!

Finally, here's a panorama looking out from behind the library:

Bottom line, it was well worth the trip.  I say that even considering this "trip" cost driving 100 miles across the heart of LA in rush hour traffic twice (there and back).

Escape!

A couple of events came together last week which spurred an impromptu couple days away from the SandCastle. First was a re-invite from the SC'rents to join them for their timeshare week at Lake Tahoe. A sibling unit & spouse were supposed to go but their trip was pre-empted by the dayjob(tm). Second was a local weather forecast that started the week with 115F and nothing lower than 110F for the entire week. Last was a lull at work before next week's storm.

With that we took the opportunity to escape the desert heat for the cool mountain air.

Locals were grousing* about the daily high temps in the mid 80's. Needless to say they didn't get much sympathy from us as we were enjoying the 25-30 cooler temps than at the SandCastle. It felt great to us and the night time lows bordered on requiring long pants.

Lake Tahoe Sunset (as always, click on image to enlargify)
Sierra reflections on Topaz Lake

More Pics & Panoramas to come!

* The sun is more intense at Lake Tahoe. The lake is about 6200' elevation which means there is about 15% less air and a whole lot less smog between you and the sun to absorb the UV rays.