Mary Anne and I  finally made it out to southern California where we got together with our friends of 45 plus years: Anne Marie and Rich Rynda (from New Jersey)  who now live in California and Ethel Thau, who still lives in New Jersey. Anne Marie and Rich have a daughter who lives in Baltimore and Ethel has a sister in Virginia, so we manage to get together periodically—but always on the East coast. 

This time we all went out to the West coast to visit Anne Marie and Rich who moved to California maybe 10 years ago. While we were there Rich and Anne Marie not only put us up, they took us all over the place—and Rich got stuck with the driving honors. 

Among other things, we visited the J Paul Getty Museum. It really has to be seen to be believed. The grounds are huge; the architecture is magnificent; the gardens are exquisite; the photography exhibit is astonishing,  and the paintings include many of the classics. 

We also visited to canals in Venice Beach and then went to the boardwalk where we saw some skateboarders, and later had dinner in Manhattan Beach. The last place on our agenda was the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. That trip included a walk through of Air Force One. 

It’s easy to forget how tumultuous those times were, given the current situation. But there was the attempted assassinations of President Reagan and Pope John Paul; the Russians shot down the Korean Airliner in 1982;  we lost a lot of marines in Beirut, we bombed Libya; interest rates got as high as 20%, and Reagan gave his famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate where he implored Gorbachev to “Tear down this wall”. 

All in all we had a great time, and a walk through history. Thanks again to Anne Marie & Rich. 

JFB