Reagan and Hollywood

Thursday, I visited the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The Reagan Presidential Library is in Simi Valley, northwest of Los Angeles.  They actually have President Reagan's Air Force One plane built into the museum.

Here are some more photos from the Reagan museum...

Reagan's burial site

It was fun to go to Hollywood, but the Walk of Fame area is a little on the dirty side.  It's real touristy, but there's also a lot of crazy, weird characters around there.  Here are some of the stars I saw on the sidewalk.  They stretched for about 7 or 8 city blocks in either direction on both sides of the street.  There were also stars on Vine St. for 2 or 3 blocks.

Central California

On Wednesday, I drove from the San Francisco area toward Los Angeles.  This is actually quite a long drive on Interstate 5 freeway.  There are hills to the right (west) and farmlands to the left (east) all the way until you have to cross a mountain range separating Central from Southern California.  Up in those mountains (at Lebec) is where I spent the night.  Thursday will be my sightseeing day in Los Angeles.

Hills to the east

Farms to the west...Saw a lot of fruit trees,
a big cattle operation, advertisements for
cherries and pistachios.

Water seems to be a huge issue here.  There were all types of canals, aqueducts, and other water delivery systems.  There were also signs encouraging lawmakers to do more to get more water to the area.




The biggest city in this central region is Bakersfield.  I arrived there in time for supper, so I stopped at the restaurant/theater of country music legend Buck Owens, the Crystal Palace.  Had a great steak, and the museum of his stuff is cool, too, for an old-time country music fan.

The End of the Lincoln Highway

On Tuesday, I drove into San Francisco to complete my cross-country journey on the Lincoln Highway.  Lincoln Park is on the western edge of town, with spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge and downtown in the distance.  At the bus stop near the Legion of Honor museum, I found the marker of the Western Terminus of the Lincoln Highway.  This part of my journey had come to an end.

San Francisco sits on a peninsula in the bay, and the city is built on numerous steep hills.  I couldn't take a picture of it, but I drove that crazy Lombard Street section that goes steeply downhill through a series of s-curves.  Tourists were everywhere taking pictures and videos of people driving down that street!   It was actually a really pretty street, but I bet the locals get tired of all the attention.  Here are some views of downtown San Francisco.

I had lunch at Fisherman's Wharf, which was the central shipping district for many years.  Now, it's pretty touristy with the container ships docking somewhere else.  You can see Alcatraz clearly from the shoreline.  Everyone's cooking seafood, and gulls and pigeons are everywhere waiting for you to drop something.




I couldn't resist; I HAD to take a cable-car ride.  I'm so glad I did!  The cars are turned around manually at the end of the line on a crude turntable, and the driver stands upright about 15 feet behind the windshield.  On the 2-3 mile trip to the shopping district, they make several stops in the middle of the street, and traffic has to stop for them.  People board and disembark, and a conductor gets their tickets or money.  I looked around downtown for a few minutes, then rode back to the Wharf.  The hills are incredible, and you can smell the brakes!

I'll be in Southern California next as I begin to wind my way home...