Warning! Another picture-heavy posting today – consider viewing on your computer or laptop instead of mobile device… todays destination was just too cool for me to be able to limit the pictures.
Author’s Note: Sorry this is a few days late, but it took time to sort and format the pics and meanwhile we moved to the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) Rally in Pomona with most of our Alpine Coach group and have been pretty busy. But more on that later – First, follow along now on our really neat trip to the library:
My new favorite day of the week (Monday) consisted of an awesome guided tour of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. We are now on day 4 of our Alpine Coach Association Pre-Rally which has not been disappointing in the least. Thanks again to our hosts/co-hosts (Tris and Carolyn Swan) & (Joel and Mary Langord) for a superb rally!
Here’s a copy of our Pre-Rally flyer:
Breakfast was on our own this morning, so everyone could carpool or convoy as early as possible to meet our 10:00 AM tour start-time.
Here’s the sign leading up the long winding road to the top of the hill where the library is situated. It took us less than an hour to make the circa 40 mile trip here from the Valencia Travel Village.
Our group gathered in front of the Library and waited for the doors to open.
We didn’t have to pay the $16 pp entrance fee. It was included in our rally package price.
After the doors opened, we all gathered once again on the backside of the building and waited for our tour guide(s). There was an original section of the Berlin Wall on display to keep us entertained along with a nice view.
View from the back of the building, looking West.
Our tour guide(s) arrived and invited us to take a self-guided tour of the automobile collection that was temporarily on display until it was time for our docent-led tour of the library/museum itself.
And was this collection ever cool! More cars… Yay! And you thought it would just be a visit to the library today 🙂
It seems that the Petersen Museum is being renovated and some of their cars are on display here until they reopen in December 2015. Click HERE for more information on the cars in the Petersen Collection.
Some of the pictures are out-of-focus due to the inadequate lighting in the display area and the “no-flash” rule. I’m sure it’s better at the Petersen Automotive Museum where they all originally hail from. We’ll just have to go back, eh?
And who doesn’t love the Love Bug?
Does anyone remember this one from the movie ‘Grease’?
No intro needed for this next one, right?
Is this a treat or what! And we haven’t even started the tour of the library yet…
We walked down to a lower display area for even more cars.
I wonder if he’d trade in the Alpine Coach for one of these? A ’56 Chevy. As most of you know, I sold my ’57 a couple years ago… it still hurts 🙁
They even had a gold-plated De Lorean.
I don’t think I remember hearing about this one before – According to the placard; Elvis shot this Pantera with his hand gun when it wouldn’t start.
After the unexpected treat of the superb car collection on display, our group gathered again at the front of the building. The tour guide(s) then broke down our ~50 person group into more manageable 8-10 person mini-groups. Our mini-goup tour started off by going directly to Air Force One.
What a view out the huge window.
Here’s looking down into the lower area. We’ll be having our lunch at those tables later.
And here we are before boarding Air Force One. No pictures are allowed at the entrance or inside the plane. The library contracts out to a photography studio and they take your picture for a price $$$ 🙁
Informational placard on Air Force One.
After our tour of the plane, our guide took us to the lower level under the plane. And guess what? More cars! These are a permanent part of the presidential library.
Nice personalized plate, eh?
Our next stop was Marine One on the lower level.
We got to tour the inside the helicopter, but again, no pictures allowed.
And then we got yet another special treat! We couldn’t help but notice that NASCAR legend, Richard Petty was also taking the tour today along with his entourage. I snapped a couple pics but was too shy to ask for an autograph.
He took the time to do a couple pics and autographs for folks that weren’t so shy. For those few that don’t know who “The King” Richard Petty is… click HERE for more info from my friend Wikipedia.
We continued on our tour. Do you think Stilla was feeling homesick at the Berlin Wall displays?
And here’s Richard Petty again! Most of our group was so distracted that we weren’t paying attention to our tour guide anymore 🙂
Richard Petty had a few words with fellow Alpiner, Mary Langord. Isn’t she special? 🙂
It was really neat to get the opportunity to see and hear Richard Petty up close and personal. What are the odds that he’d be here the same time as our group?
And back to the library tour:
We got the opportunity to take pictures in front of the podium. Mary Langord looks like a natural orator, doesn’t she?
I even took my moment.
And then our small group waited for our turn in the Oval Office.
Exact replica of the White House Oval Office with many original personal items from President Reagan himself.
Too bad we couldn’t take turns sitting behind the desk 🙂
Finally, we made it to our catered lunch under the wings of Air Force One. And what a good meal it was, with good company.
Here’s Stilla with fellow Alpiner’s, Gary and Renee, enjoying lunch.
After lunch, most folks went their separate ways. However, since we were distracted by our Richard Petty experience, we (and several other couples) went back through portions of the library/museum. We just couldn’t get enough of this really cool place that honors it’s namesake, Ronald Reagan. So here’s a few more pics for you to enjoy as we did…
Stilla even got to go for a presidential ride-along.
Ronald Reagan’s personal belt buckle collection:
We finally found our way to the gift shop. Lot’s of cool stuff.
Hidden around the corner of the building, we stopped to view the F-14 static display. I think a lot of folks missed this.
Picture of the back side. The Berlin Wall piece is in the center foreground.
Memorial around back.
And orchard.
And a fond final farewell to my personal hero – President Ronald Reagan. What a great experience! This is one of the neatest and most informative places we’ve had the pleasure to visit in our travels.
We made it back to the campground to enjoy yet another fine get-together with our Alpine friends. We had a nutritious dessert and some pre-packaged breakfast goodies to take with us on our morning trip over to the FMCA Rally.
Here we are, (with full bellies), getting our final words of wisdom before we pack up and head out in the morning for our next destination.
Hope you enjoyed the tour today. I know we did!
Check back in for a recap of our trip to the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) Rally in Pomona… We have to get an early start in the morning in order to arrive in time to meet up again as a group so we all get parked together.