Another Presidential Library to Check Off the List

Leaving Anaheim, we had to drive through Los Angeles to get to our next destination.  The traffic was almost as bad as its reputation, but we made it through reasonably quickly.  Just outside of downtown Los Angeles, we stopped at a Blue Beacon Truck Wash to get all of the red dirt from Arizona cleaned off of the RV.

Since our drive was shorter than usual, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant that served Guatemalan food, called Antojitos Tacaná in San Fernando.  Pat had one of the restaurant’s special dishes called Garnachas, which was composed of several bite-sized fried corn tortillas topped with spicy ground beef, shredded cabbage, and cheese. Tim had Pollo Asado, with rice and beans.  It was a small restaurant with great Yelp reviews, and the owner/waiter was very friendly and she made excellent suggestions for lunch.  

We had a beautiful drive to our next campground, Tapo Canyon Regional Park, located in Simi Valley, California.  Tapo Canyon is a county park run by Ventura County, California.  We were camping in this park for a few days mainly because we wanted to visit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.  

The campground was beautiful, with the Santa Susanna Mountains in full view, along with fields of blooming wildflowers which were extra beautiful this year from California’s superbloom.  We even got some visits from the peacocks that wander around the park. 

The day after we arrived at Tapo Canyon, we took an Uber to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley.  The Uber took approximately 10 minutes to arrive, cost $26, and the drive was about 20 minutes.  As we stated in our previous post regarding our visit to the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, we want to visit as many Presidential Libraries as possible regardless of whether we like or agree with the person or their politics.  

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum included exhibits on his childhood in Illinois; his early career as a radio announcer and then as an actor; his tenure as Governor of California (including his sending of national guard troops to U.C. Berkeley to quell protests there about Vietnam touted as one of his “accomplishments”); and his tenure as President (including the assassination attempt, his efforts to get the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin Wall, and an agreement with the Soviet Union to reduce nuclear weapons caches).  Interestingly, Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court; the first woman on the court.  The museum also included the actual Air Force One Jet that he used while President (and you can go inside); an F-117A Nighthawk; F-14 Fighter Jet; Abrams Tank; and the burial site for President Reagan and his wife, Nancy. 

 

The Museum only briefly mentioned or did not cover at all controversial issues like how the release of the Iranian hostages suspiciously took place on his inauguration day rather than before the election while Jimmy Carter was President and running for a second term (conceivably, the hostages could have been released months earlier); the Iran-Contra affair (his authorization of a secret deal to sell antitank and antiaircraft missiles to Iran in exchange for Iran’s help in the release of American hostages from Lebanon, and the diversion of a large sum the U.S. received from Iran to purchase weapons and supplies for the Contras in Nicaragua); his order to invade Grenada; or his bout with Alzheimer’s Disease while apparently still President.  The exhibits touted as his “accomplishments” massive tax reductions for wealthier individuals and corporations; large increases in military spending; significant cuts in education, food stamps, low-income housing, school lunches, and Medicaid; cuts in budgets of federal agencies; reduction of enforcement of regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Justice; and reduction of regulations governing the savings and loan industry (which later was a significant cause of the bank failures of the early 2000s).  And of course, the 89,000 men, women, and children who died during his administration’s indifference (and even jokes in the public forum about those who were gay and dying) to the AIDS pandemic.

After our visit to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, we took an Uber home and spent a quiet evening in the RV catching up on blog entries for you.  It was a short stay in Simi Valley, as we were off the following day to our next destination.  

Review of Tapo Canyon Regional Park

Tapo Canyon Regional Park, located in Simi Valley, California, is a county park run by Ventura County, California.  Tapo Canyon has 16 full hookup RV sites.  Our site was paved with concrete, with a dirt area adjacent to the site that had a picnic table and a firepit, but no grill.  The site was a little unlevel, but we managed to get the jacks in the proper position to level us off.  

The campground has almost no cell reception, so we had to rely on our Starlink for Wi-Fi for our phones and laptops.  We had a lot of space between our site and our neighbors, which made it seem more peaceful; and our site backed up to a creek, which provided a constant tranquil sound.

The park also includes picnic areas; a playground; bathroom/showers; and an equestrian arena.  There is no laundry facility or store.  Although the park is beautiful, there isn’t much to do there.  The city of Simi Valley is not within walking or biking distance; rather it is at least a 15-minute drive to the nearest restaurants or shops.  Given these drawbacks, we likely would not stay at Tapo Canyon again in the future.