Trip to Reagan Library

February 25 to March 1, 2019  

We wanted to visit the Reagan Library to see the Pompeii Exhibit. 

We traveled down on Hwy 5. I dreaded it but it was really quite smooth and easy. There was very little traffic, only congested when we left 5 for 405, but we got to the campground safe and sound. Oak Park Campground in Simi Valley is just a couple of miles from the Reagan Museum. There aren't a lot of sites, we were in Campsite 4. The hosts were very friendly and nice the one time we saw them. It was with dread that  we realized there were railroad tracks just next to the campground. What have we gotten ourselves into? However, the trains were short, commuter-type trains. Thankfully, they did not run through the night. Plus, our Casita is well insulated from sound. 

We got Doggie Daycare for Tony at the nearby PetSmart when we went to the museum, that made it easier for all of us. My back is really bothering me so we didn't stay at the museum as long as we planned but we did see the great exhibit and a few other things. All the things like Air Force One seem so out-of-date, which of course they are. The Berlin Wall exhibit meant more to us since we have now see the actual wall in Berlin. It made the exhibit come alive. We hoped there would be a nice place to eat lunch at the museum but that was not the case. We had a boxed salad that was good enough. I still hope to get to Pompeii one day! So fascinating!

The next morning we left 9:45a, it started to rain when we left. The drive was easy we stopped in San Bernardino for gas and pulled over and made a chicken salad sandwich for our lunch on a croissant. It wasn't raining then so John took Tony for a nice walk. It is really lovely along 101 most of it is so bare along the way with undeveloped property. I always wonder why? I'm sure they could sell that property for a lot of money and put on it for a big price. As we got to Pismo area it started to rain again. We went to Pismo North Beach campground first and it is closed for restoration we found out later it will open mid May. I hope they made enough improvements to keep it flooding during the rainy seasons. We went on to Oceano where there were vacancies. It is finally open now and it's really quite nice with nice, new, roomy restrooms, and showers. There were plenty of vacancies but only for one night we have to check in the morning if we can have the same site tomorrow. It is not supposed to rain tomorrow so we might stay but if we have to move we will not spend another night and just go home that's too big a pain in the behind. We set up with just a little bit of sprinkles and then have stayed inside due to the rain it's not pouring down but it is constantly sprinkling and we just don't feel like getting wet and sharing our space with a wet pup! The next day we did a nice drive along the dunes, went to Avila Farms, ate at Old Juan's Cantina, and generally had a nice time. 

I wanted to add, when we went through Ventura earlier in the day, there were information centers for the Channel Islands. If they weather had been better, we would have liked to stop and gather some information. I would love to go visit those islands. I will have to research and see what I can find out. There must be some sort of transportation, a ferry, or something to get out there for the day. I'm pretty sure you cannot stay overnight out there and even if you could it would be tent camping. I think we saw the islands from the shore as we drove along. I could be wrong and I could not look at my phone while driving. We didn't have a map handy. It was a nice little winter vacation.