Last Saturday Mike, Jesse & I went to the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA. Since Jesse is a senior in high school he has to take Government. He needed some extra credit to bring his grade up, so the biggest extra credit project was going to the Nixon Library. Mike wanted to go to the Reagan Library, but it wasn't an option for extra credit.
In order for Jesse to receive the extra credit he had to bring back a receipt showing he actually went. He was to stay an hour and a half and now he has to do a 2 page typed report about his experience. Cross your fingers that he gets the report done by Monday.
It took us about an hour to get there from our house. We ended up spending about 2 hours or so at the library. There is a lot to see there. They have a beautiful garden area that I will post about on Outdoor Wednesday, the house that Nixon's father built that Nixon lived at for the first 9 years of his life, a presidential helicopter (they won't let you take photos inside), the burial place of Richard & Patricia Nixon and of course the exhibition area (the library). They also show some movies that we didn't stay to watch. It ended up being a pretty interesting experience. I learned a lot about President Nixon.
I was a teenager when Nixon was president. I remember him giving up the office of the president and all the scandal that went along with Watergate. They are in the process at the library of making a Watergate exhibition.
These are the things I like the most at the library:
1) The house. It was so small. I could hardly take photos as the rooms were so small. You don't get to see the entire house, but a big majority of it. They tell you that there is a tiny bedroom upstairs which 4 Nixon boys shared with just 2 beds. The stove in the kitchen had "St Clair" on the door. I got a kick out of that since that is my son's last name & the last name I still legally go by (I've never legally changed my name to my married name).
2) Then Jesse found a square on the sidewalk that had my name "Kim" stamped into it. He said, "They have your name all over this place".
3) The piece of the Berlin wall. I can remember when the wall separated East & West Germany & when the wall was finally torn down. They had a sign that said "Do not touch", so of course, Mike had to pretend he was touching the wall. Men will always be boys.
4) The gardens. I guess I should have put this number one, as I loved the gardens the best. You'll have to wait till Wednesday to see the photos.
5) I loved how they displayed lots of plates. Most of my photos didn't turn out very good as there was too much reflection on the glass cases so I only included one in my photos. All I can say is that the White House has/had lots of beautiful china.
6) And I love that they had a display of jewelry given to the Nixon's by prominent world leaders and dresses worn by Mrs Nixon or her daughters.
So there was stuff that both men & woman could enjoy. My hubby enjoyed all the political stuff & of course the astronaut stuff (he still doesn't believe we actually went to the moon). Even Jesse seemed to enjoy it (but not as much as us the parents).
Here are some photos of the library. Enjoy!
So if you are ever in southern California, you should stop for a few hours at the Nixon Library. It is quite informative. Now we need to go to the Reagan Library. Are there any presidential libraries in your neck of the woods?
