By Brad Friedman on 4/7/2013, 3:28pm PT  

Other than what appears, at first blush, to be the front entrance to the official Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Sewer System, the entire complex, shining at the top of a hill in Simi Valley, CA, is beautiful. Had we not arrived so late in the day, we would likely have paid the somewhat pricey $21 per head entrance fee to tour the actual museum, see the old Air Force One that is on display and, perhaps, even pay the extra $6 to check out the "Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives" exhibit which is also currently on display there, for some reason, until the end of the month.

As late as it was, however, we decided this time around to just enjoy the grounds, the memorial site, and the gift shop --- all free to access --- and make a mental note to try to go back for a full day at some point in the not too distant future.

But we were still able to take a few photos that you may enjoy, including this one just outside the entrance to the museum portion of the Reagan Presidential Library. I call it: "Trust But Photograph"...

Here are a few more of the photos we took yesterday, some odder and/or more ironic than others...

Desi Doyen (of The BRAD BLOG's Green News Report) observes the "No Dancing" sign at the Reagan Memorial Site on the grounds...

Here's a somewhat creepy --- almost Joker-ish bronze bust - near "The Peace Garden" (not to be confused with "The Freedom Path" which leads from the parking lot to the main structure and where, we surmised, we might not be quite as free to do whatever we wanted, as the name otherwise implies)...

You'll find that bust right near this...

There is a series of actual fading magazine covers framed along the wall in the "Reagan Country Cafe", including this one...

Not far from this one (note the NRA Endorsement on the bottom)...

Next to the cafe, we find the excellent gift shop, with lots of cool stuff, including books from many Rightwing authors, and the occasional historian.

Here's a copy of George Washington's Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation, right next to an autographed copy of The Joy of Hate by Greg Gutfeld of Fox 'News'...

The book by former RNC Chair Michael Steele doesn't seem to be moving very quickly...

Neither does this one by this guy...

You can also purchase this blonde woman in a plastic bag at the Reagan Library Gift Shop...

What a twist! Obama gets co-opted for a Reagan t-shirt!...

Of course, at the Reagan Library Gift Shop, freedom isn't free. It's $2.95 plus sales tax.

And then, the final and perhaps cruelest irony from our photographic tour of the Presidential Library gift shop and grounds of the President who took down the solar panels President Jimmy Carter had placed atop the White House...this sign spotted above each urinal in the men's room...

Hope you enjoyed the tour. We'll be back to tour the actual museum exhibits themselves someday. If they let us...

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Article Categories: Ronald Reagan