"I Am Not a Crook!"

28 Apr 2014--This past Friday we went out to the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA.  Not a whole lot we haven't heard about, so I tried to focus on just a few things I either didn't know or forgot about. This is the library from the outside front...much prettier in back.



Although I know I had heard he was a Quaker, I never really thought of him fighting in war time, when in fact he did join the military during WWII...they said his mother and grandmother were very disappointed that he did.  I definitely didn't know that he almost became president twice while serving as Vice president under Eisenhower, after Eisenhower had a heart attack and then a stroke about 2 years later.

 

This display, about 10 world leaders Nixon saw as great leaders (for good or ill), was interesting only to the extent that I was surprised how short most of them were.  I am first with Golda Mier and Sadat and then Breshnev and Kruschev.



I read this about energy and thought I must have somehow gotten into the Carter Library!  Is it me, or did everyone else my age feel like we have listened to politicians for 30 years disparaging Carter for wearing a sweater while asking Americans to turn down their heat and turn out the lights.  And the last pic here says the best thing about that time was that it made energy conservation a part of American life...really?  Have they looked out their windows to see how many SUVs and RVs are on the roads?  haha


 

Here were 2 biggies: voting and the draft.  I am not crazy about getting rid of the draft, although I understand why he did it at the time.  I think we would have fewer wars and would understand each other as Americans far better with the draft...count me in for bringing it back!




Increases in food stamps, a budget that spent more on human resource programs than defense, increases in drug rehab, and starting the EPA?  I wonder what the chances would be of this Republican getting elected today???


 

Of course I knew the Elvis angle, but Carl Yazstremski giving Nixon his MVP trophy? Did anyone else know that?

 

To his credit, Nixon's Library was far more balanced than either Kennedy's or certainly Reagan's...to be honest Reagan's was so over-hyped it would do tribute to the propaganda efforts of the Stalin/Lenin era.  haha  Here they had displays where you could push a button and red lights would flash showing you where "bugs" were planted in both the Oval Office and Cabinet Room.



OK, we all know about the speculation concerning the 18 1/2 minutes erased from the tapes that Rose Mary Woods was transcribing.  This tells us that while she tried to explain how she might have erased 5 of the 18 1/2 minutes, specialists that were called in found from 5 to 9 erasures during that time frame that could not be accounted for by a "mistake"!



In the back of the Library grounds, behind Cathy and the reflecting pool, is the house Nixon lived in till he was 10 yrs old. And to the left of the house, probably no more than 20 yards away, is where both Nixon and his wife are buried. Nixon was one of five boys in the family...he is 2nd from the left in that picture.  All are deceased except the youngest boy, on the far right, who lives in Seattle, WA today.  The tour guide told us if you saw him walking down the street you would definitely know who he was...looks just like his brother.




The view looking from his house towards the library...pretty.



Cathy recreates Nixon's final salute as he leaves the White House for the last time after resigning. She really did a bang up job!



Only beaches to visit after this...drove our bikes to a few today and will do 2 more tomorrow before we head out on Friday for our next stop.

"Hurray for Hollywood!"

26 Apr 2014--On Monday we headed to Mulholland Drive, which overlooks Los Angeles, and then on Thursday we headed down to Hollywood Boulevard to see some action up close.  haha

As we entered Mulholland Drive, these houses and our first look into the city jumped out at us.  If these houses aren't on a mudslide waiting to happen, I don't know what is.  And look at the "haze"!



There are a series of pullouts designated on a map for the views, with this 1st one being the best view of the Hollywood sign.



Mulholland Drive goes for a total of about 50 miles, but the part overlooking LA is only about 20 miles max.  Most of the overlooks are cut out of the LA side, so you constantly look into what a tour guide told me was a cross between "smog and the marine layer".  If you blow up the 2nd picture you can see an actual line of "smog" above the buildings in the background.  You can't possibly look down on that and say to yourself, "I want to live here"!  Cathy read somewhere that if the greater Los Angeles area were a state, it would be the 5th largest state in the country by population, and that there are more cars here than people.  Not pretty!

 


There are some really nice houses along the drive, and then lots like these across the valley that also seem like a mudslide waiting to happen.  I wouldn't want to own one half way up the hill...cause those on top are surely coming down on you when it happens.



A few of cut-outs overlook the other side of the mountain, facing Burbank and Hollywood...both Universal and Warner Bros studios are down to the right in this picture.  Much prettier than the LA side of the mountain.



Made our way home and saw one of our trusty friends that survived the Heron hunt.  haha



On Thursday we headed to Hollywood Blvd to see the sights.  This is the entrance to the now-named Dolby Theatre, formerly called the Kodak Theatre, where the Oscars are held every year. Directly behind me in the 3rd picture is the hall they are held in.  Later that day when we came back through here, we saw a hole bunch of people lined up to go in to see the "America's Got Talent" show.  You had to have tickets, so we were out of luck.

 


I got the "Woman of the year" award!  Thank You!  Thank You Very Much!!!

 

Right down the street from the Dolby was Grauman's Chinese Theatre, where lots of the stars, past and present, have put their hand and footprints.  This seemed to be the busiest place on the whole boulevard, with protesters, street people and people dressed up that you could take your picture with.  That one guy looked like he had a birdhouse on his head, but I was afraid to get caught staring, so I'm not sure.  haha




I love Johnny Depp...that 1st one is a wax figure at the Wax Museum, but then a live one with a guy dressed up as Jack Sparrow...he is an actor and musician doing this on the side to get money he told me.  We have no idea who the lady in the 4th pic is supposed to be, but Cathy told me she is holding a curtain rod...her mother has one exactly like that in her bedroom!  haha  And finally, the most entertaining of them all was the old guy dancing in the video.


 

The entertainment section of the Boulevard is about a mile long, with "stars" on either side of the street, about 2500 in all.  After a while you get tired of looking at the ground, but I did find Elvis and Judy...Doris Day, too, but her name was blotted out by the sun.  haha



So that was our trip into the city areas...we drove through the Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills areas, but didn't see anything that would make us stop.  In all honesty, Vegas was more fun, and at least in southern California, we will stick to the beaches and mountains if we ever come back.