Day 10: driving and Reagan

I got up this morning to do a drive that I’d recommend:
-Mulholland Drive. Going through those canyons and overlooks was the first time since I was in Malibu that I could see how L.A. might be considered beautiful. On this section of the drive, you get to see the skyline and the Hollywood sign.

-Wind your way down to Hollywood Boulevard. See Mann’s Chinese Theatre and the Kodak Theater. Imagine the Oscars are going on.

-Turn onto Santa Monica and go to Beverly Hills. Remember old episodes of 90210 fondly.

-Turn onto Rodeo Drive. If you go the wrong way at first, as I did, you can see some nice houses, and then turn around and go down the ritzy shopping part. Look for celebrities.

Then take Wilshire back to interstate, because there is an important place to go, and that place is the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. That’s right, two presidential libraries in two days! California is truly blessed!

The Reagan library is in Simi Valley, which was quite beautiful. The library was very well put together, with the Chasen’s booth in which Reagan proposed to his wife, clips of his movie career, a film about the assassination attempt, an Air Force One that you could walk through and stats about how much Reagan traveled, a piece of the Berlin Wall, etc. But overall, I would say I like Nixon’s better. Perhaps it’s because Reagan was rehashed so recently when he died, or perhaps because some of this stuff happened in my lifetime, I just didn’t feel like I walked away having learned anything or gained any insight into Reagan. But I do think I might borrow my dad’s copy of The Reagan Diaries when I get home.

Then, I finally, at long last, stopped going south and made the turn east. I got about three hours east, going through the desert and a big ass wind farm. The drive was more or less “brown,” what with the desert and all, but when the sun started going down, the pinks and blues reflected off the brown hills and it was beautiful.

I stopped in Blythe, California, just a rock’s throw from Arizona, and went to Denny’s for some French toast. Then I watched some tv. Is anyone watching the show Pushing Daisies on ABC on Wednesdays? I think it’s my new favorite show and the leading actor is my new celebrity crush.