Road Trip Day 8

We arrived in Yorba Linda last evening, had a restful night. Called my cousin Nita and we agreed to meet for dinner about 4 or 5. She said we should take in the Richard Nixon Library and Museum, which was a few blocks from their home. She will meet us there when we are done.

Arrived at the Museum after a good lunch

 We noticed the old Presidential helicopter had arrived....must have been for an important meeting....

 I caught Nancy looking in on the meeting...wow, some very important people there!

 Here is the silver plate given to Nixon from Mark Hatfield with his nomination speech engraved in it.

 We then entered a room full of all the important world leaders Nixon had met with in his career. These figures are made of plaster of paris, real clothes put on them, a hard paint applied which hardened them to look like bronze statues. Each one weighs about 80 lbs.

 A real piece of the Berlin Wall.

 The real presidential limo...specially built with bullet proof glass, steel inside the tires so if someone would shoot the tires, they could still travel at 50mph. Cost of the car...$500,000. At that time the most expensive car Ford had ever made.

 We ventured down this impressive hall to...

 A complete replica of the East Room of the Capitol Bldg.

Pictures on the wall of.........George

                                          Teddy

                                          Martha (right?)

and guess who.....can you..............................Garfield

Nancy really wanted to fly back to the motel...no wait, we have to see my cousin

Last stop, Nixons boyhood home...the original location...the home is 100 years old

This Pepper Tree was planted by the house 100 yrs ago

The Nixon's, Richard and Pat are buried near the house, the land donated to the Friends Church so that they could legally be buried there

We met Nita and her husand, Bill and enjoyed a delicious meal at a local Steak House

Nita is my fathers sister, Juanita's daughter. We do not get to see much of each other, so we spent the whole evening talking about our families.

We bid them ado and headed back to our motel to prepare for our next adventure.

Road Trip

Road Trip
It has been 7 days that I could not get to the blog. We stopped at a Best Buy along the way near Los Angeles today and had them fix the problem, so this is going to be a long one. The next blogs will hopefully be daily...thanks
Day 1
We headed to Medford to spend a little time with Don and Donna, Nancy's brother. In the morning we spent time at a wonderful breakfast at their friends restaurant...Punky's.

Day 2
 Heading South, stopped at Redding, found a great deli...Turbo'z. Highly recommend it!

 Arrived in Alemeda and went for a walk at refuge with Shane and "Pongo"

 Day 3
Shane took us up to Yosemite...wow, awesome place to take pictures. Shane loaned his old camera to his mother for the trip. She is going to learn to use it.

 Lets seee.....Point, then shoot...hmmm, which lever does what????

 Oh, yes...Sam went with us to spend the day.

 Yes, there is still snow up there.

 No, not a fire...this is the color of the foliage.

 There are so many awesome views...see the falls?

 She makes the view!

  Sam is SOO excited.

Yes, that is "Half Dome right next to me.

 A closer look at Half Dome as we get to a better viewing.

 The best viewing at Glacier Point

 Nancy is getting the hang of this taking picture thing.

 As the sun sets, the granite changes colors.

 El Capitan as the sun paints him.

  Bridal Veil falls in the colored mountain.

Day 4
Shane wore us out yesterday...now a day seeing some of the sights of San Francisco. Here is Lake Merrit in downtown Oakland. It has become an estuary for injured birds as well as many local ones. These tree's on the little island are full of Cormerants nests.

 Next to the San Francisco Fine Arts park. These are some new visitors (or maybe full time residents) of its lake.

 The "Palace of Fine Arts" building is beautiful. (Just like the pretty lady here)

 Shane protecting his mother in the park.

 Only one of the many tree dwellers at the park.

 Shane makes a great tour guide.

 From there we went to the hill above the Golden Gate bridge...the hill where the canons were located in the 2nd WW...what a view, even of Alcatraz. Notice that it was a bit foggy.

 Shane...no, not the cowboy, our son walking through the wind.

 Here we are at the top of the hill...very windy!

 Shane and Nancy checking out the old bunkers.

 Next to the Golden Gate park...check out these strange tree's!

 YES, there are windmills in Golden Gate Park...Buffalo too. (The  picture disappeared)

 Day 5
Shane wore us out! We headed down to Sharon and Loren's (Nancy's sister) in Scotts Valley to relax. They said there was a company called Canapay in town. They rebuild and sell classic cars...had to go see this!

 Wow, they buy, fix and sell (or work on private) cars. The shop is immaculate! Great tour!

 Day 6
Drove down and spent the day in Carmel with Sharon and Loren.

I think we wore Loren out...he is taking a nap.

Celebrating Loren's 80th birthday (believe it or not) at a Mediterranian restaurant in Carmel

They marched around and sang to Loren in Mediterranian style

Day 7
Sharon and Loren fixed an awesome breakfast for us...notice who washes the dishes.

Had to take some pics of their wonderful home nestled in the hills above Santa Cruz.

We headed down to Los Angeles for the night, hoping to see my cousin Nita. We stopped at Pismo Beach for lunch at a great restaurant with a view of the bay.  Highly recommend it

Thus ends week 1 of our Road Trip