Day 2: The OC
ED. NOTE: Due to the expiration of my laptop on Saturday, all subsequent vacation posts were handwritten on the flights home.
SAN BERNARDINO, 7/5 -- Our first full day in SoCal led us up and over the Santa Ana Mountains on CA 74. It was very scenic -- complete with a view of Lake Elsinore the town and Lake Elsinore the lake -- and very reminiscent of drives through the Rockies.
It was a direct (but not straight) route to San Juan Capistrano, where the swallows return every March to the local mission. Obviously, we missed them, but we did take a quick visit through the current sanctuary. (A tour of the old mission would've been $9 a head.)
Once that was done, we headed on up to Yorba Linda, site of the Nixon Library & Museum, where we were greeted by a George Washington impersonator. (Less creepy than a Nixon impersonator, I suppose.)
Compared to other presidential museums I've been to -- Clinton & Eisenhower among them -- Nixon's seemed a bit lacking. The Nixon Museum did just recently join the government oversight agency for such museums and was currently updating their exhibits to agency standards. (But no access to the Watergate exhibit? Tsk tsk.)
The introductory film also seemed a bit creepy. It was produced before both Dick & Pat's deaths (1994 and 1993, respectively) and included his first-person responses to the film's narrative. No 18½-minute gaps, though.
We took the long way to San Bernardino; our check-in wasn't until 3:00, and we had left the museum at about 1. The Hilton lobby was hopping with a wedding reception that was still going on after we returned from the local ball game (which the home team won, 9-0) at about 10:30.
SAN BERNARDINO, 7/5 -- Our first full day in SoCal led us up and over the Santa Ana Mountains on CA 74. It was very scenic -- complete with a view of Lake Elsinore the town and Lake Elsinore the lake -- and very reminiscent of drives through the Rockies.
It was a direct (but not straight) route to San Juan Capistrano, where the swallows return every March to the local mission. Obviously, we missed them, but we did take a quick visit through the current sanctuary. (A tour of the old mission would've been $9 a head.)
Once that was done, we headed on up to Yorba Linda, site of the Nixon Library & Museum, where we were greeted by a George Washington impersonator. (Less creepy than a Nixon impersonator, I suppose.)
Compared to other presidential museums I've been to -- Clinton & Eisenhower among them -- Nixon's seemed a bit lacking. The Nixon Museum did just recently join the government oversight agency for such museums and was currently updating their exhibits to agency standards. (But no access to the Watergate exhibit? Tsk tsk.)
The introductory film also seemed a bit creepy. It was produced before both Dick & Pat's deaths (1994 and 1993, respectively) and included his first-person responses to the film's narrative. No 18½-minute gaps, though.
We took the long way to San Bernardino; our check-in wasn't until 3:00, and we had left the museum at about 1. The Hilton lobby was hopping with a wedding reception that was still going on after we returned from the local ball game (which the home team won, 9-0) at about 10:30.