San Clemente, San Francisco, San Diego

On Thursday, Martha had business in Orange County and asked if I wanted to do anything in particular there. My stock answer is always Disneyland (as if I had just won the Super Bowl), but I looked at her tour book and chose the Nixon Presidential Home and Library. As I went to Laos and Cambodia, I said them to myself in a Nixon voice…”Laos and Cambodia.” I remember him giving a speech about the bombing there, but not much else, and I wanted to see how the museum told the story. Plus, after seeing Obama’s boyhood homes, why not see Nixon’s?



It’s in Yorba Linda, but if I said that in the title of this post, it wouldn’t be as alliterative. The home was modest, reflecting his Quaker upbringing. I learned about his early career in California politics and watched a speech he gave that, given the timing of it, had to be the Checkers speech, but wasn’t referred to as that. The Vietnam war was given its due (complete with map showing Laos and Cambodia), and a room was devoted to his foreign policy achievements, including the opening of China and détente with the Soviet Union. Those were different times…. Perhaps more remarkable was a room devoted to his domestic achievements – such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. Would a Republican administration of today have enacted those? Sadly, the Watergate exhibit was under construction, so I didn’t get to test my memories against the way they chose to depict it. Outside was the helicopter that Nixon boarded as he left the White House for the final time – I got goosebumps thinking back on that day. They did have exhibits showing his years of disgrace and his eventual return to elder statesmanship – all in all, it was a good visit and I am glad I went.



And the next day I went to San Francisco, where I had an interview! Martha had a business trip in the Bay Area, so I scheduled it for the same day so that we could fly together. The interview had been set up starting with a contact in Thailand and continuing with a conversation in Indonesia. It was with an RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer - a network I need to tap more! Met her through an RPCV who I met through an RPCV who worked in the Morocco Peace Corps office), working for Junior Achievement in Thailand. My Junior Achievement days, back in Pottstown, were long ago! When we first talked, I wondered if another RPCV, who I had met in Chiang Mai (through a fellow PCV), might be good for the job – and she got the job! But the Junior Achievement person and I had already talked about meeting in California when she was there, so we did that; she had some good ideas and it was good to meet face-to-face anyway. And it was kind of fun to go to San Francisco just for a day. We had lunch at a Thai restaurant (which seemed fitting) on the Embarcadero and I had a little time to feel the San Francisco vibe.



And then I flew to San Diego afterwards, where Youssef picked me up! I hadn’t seen him since he left Morocco over a year prior, and hadn’t seen Amanda in even longer. He took me to their home in Encinitas, a little apartment on the property of her parents. I had met her mother in Morocco but now I met her father as well. They cooked a marvelous chicken tortilla soup dinner and we talked and talked – just like we used to in Morocco, except that we had all the comforts of home. It was nice to see Moroccan rugs and pottery incorporated into their home – I’ve seen more since, and I hope that when I finally get my chance, I can make it work!