On our way back to LAX from Palm Springs, Marc and I decided to visit the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, Orange County.  Since it was on the way, we thought we might as well go and see the place for ourselves.

Thus, on our very last day of vacation, we did visit it right on the Presidents' Day Holiday.  Boy, were we lucky we went!.  The place was buzzing with activity.  Locals and visitors alike lined up right before the museum opened.  I enjoyed our visit to President Nixon's Library and Museum.  It was, by the way, my very first to any presidential library for that matter.  I didn't realize it was going to be so educational, informative, and fun.  Our visit all the more encouraged us to visit President Reagan's library in Simi Valley since it is also in Southern California.

The museum was IMPRESSIVE.  I just had to write the word in caps for emphasis.  I truly, truly enjoyed myself there.

One wing of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum which resembled part of the White House in Washington DC.

The crowd inside the library and museum

There were several members of the press when we went and lots of Republicans.  I wasn't surprised though given that we were in conservative Orange County.

That's me with two very tall US presidents.  Abraham Lincoln to my left and Thomas Jefferson to my right.  I felt Lilliputian standing next to these two men impersonating the two late presidents who really were around 6'5 in real life.

A painting commemorating President Nixon's and wife Pat's visit to the Great Wall in Badaling last 1972.  How it reminded me of my visit to the Great Wall of China in Badaling just last January 2012.

Inside the room depicting the summit meeting with various important world leaders at the time:  Golda Meir, Charles de Gaulle, Winston Churchill

A piece of the Berlin Wall

By now I have seen a number of pieces of the Berlin Wall.  I have seen so many now in private and public places all over the world.  The last time I saw one was inside Montreal's World Trade Center a year and a half ago.

This scene commemorates President' Nixon's visit to China last 1972 strengthening US-Sino relations

An astronaut

It was during President Nixon's term as president when the US successfully sent American Austronauts to  the moon.  That was 1969 and I was just a toddler back then.

A rock from the moon

A replica of one of the rooms in the White House in Washington DC

Standing next to the limousine President Nixon used during his term as president

A replica of the White House's East Room

Admiring the portrait of the First American President, George Washington, inside the replica of the White House East Wing

This china belonged to Harry Truman's presidency.  Actually, samples of china from different US presidents

were on display in the library and museum reflecting each president's taste and personality.

The grave sites of President Richard Nixon and his wife Patricia

I watched the news coverage on the former US First Lady Patricia Nixon's death and funeral last 1993 on TV.  I was already in the San Francisco Bay Area at the time, and I saw how sad President Nixon was.  In fact, I saw him so.  Knowing that he passed away just a year after her makes me think that the two must have been extremely close to each other.  Real soul mates, I would even say.

Visitors lining up to view the interior of the late President Nixon's house on the grounds of the library and museum

A rear view of President Nixon's house

This gentleman welcomed visitors to the house and gave important information it.

The living room inside the house where President Nixon lived for the first nine years of his life

The late president's bedroom right next to the living room

The dining room

The room that contained the bath tub and which also served as storage for the farming tools

The helicopter that President Nixon used during his term