calherewecome

Entrance to the library/museum

Yesterday, Paula and I visited the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA. The trip was organized by San Pedro Assistance League. We had a bus full of people make the hour and a half trip. This is my report. Simi Valley is located about 50 miles north of Los Angeles.

I am no particular fan of Ronald Reagan. There are those that would have him considered for sainthood. Not me. That being said, I still found the museum interesting. The museum covers the high points. You won’t see much about Iran Contra for example.

Our group of 40 something seniors were divided up into four groups and each group was assigned to our individual docent. I had trouble at times hearing partly because she couldn’t seem to speak loud enough and partly due to background noise.

There is also an app you can down either for iOS or Android. The app is sort of a self guided tour. Unfortunately, it is not free. ($2,99 I think).

Bust of Ronald Reagan

There are plenty of statues of the former president. Here is one of them. There were many more. The library tried to cover the high points of the presidency.

There is a section on the white house along with a replica of the oval office as it was during Ronald Reagan’s presidency.

The “HMS Resolute” Desk

Fireplace with portrait of George Washington.

There is an entire section dedicated to presidential travel. There is are many limousines. Some of the limousines belonged to other heads of state including Saddam Hussein, FDR, Eisenhower, Eva Peron to name a few. I’m not sure why all of the limos are there. There is an Air Force One and a Marine One helicopter. We were allowed to enter both aircraft but not allowed to take pictures. The Air Force One of Reagan’s time was a modified C130 (military version of the Boeing 707). It was pretty cramped inside. It’s no wonder that current Air Force One’s are based on Boeing 747’s. N27000 was in service until 2001 when it was replaced by the Boeing 747.

Marine One

Air Force One

Here are some of the pictures of the limo’s.

Popemobile

Eva Peron’s Ride

FDR’s Limo

Presidential Limo (License Plate “GIPPER”)

There was a big section on the Berlin wall and the diplomacy initiatives with the Soviet Union. Lots of pictures of Gorbachev and other world leaders of the era. There were some artifacts of the wall as well as replicas.

Wall segment as seen from the east.

There are also sections covering First Lady Nancy Reagan along with some of her gowns. There is a section covering the assassination attempt in 1981. Our final stop for the day was the Reagan Library Cafe. They had some excellent split pea soup. Paula and I also split a piece of chocolate torte. Very tasty. That’s enough for now. If you want more you can Google Ronald Reagan Library. There is tons of stuff available online.

This entry was posted on February 20, 2015 at 6:53 pm and is filed under California, Travel. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: Gipper, Ronald Reagan, travel