Over the past thirty-five years, my husband’s work positions have created opportunities for us to experience some amazing things. But this one might have topped them all.
Last week, we were in Santa Barbara, where my husband was speaking. One of the things you must understand about us is that we love Presidential libraries and homes. We knew the Regan Ranch was near Santa Barbara, but we also knew it wasn’t an open-to-the-public kind of place. But on this trip, we were asked if we would like to tour Rancho del Cielo (Ranch in the sky), the ranch the Reagans owned for over twenty years.
Um, yes, please!
I mean, we both attended the Republican National Convention in Dallas in 1984, though we didn’t yet know each other. We met in DC in 1985. But while politics was never my main interest, my husband had campaigned for Ronald Reagan in his middle school mock election back in 1976—when very few people outside of California knew him as a politician! Since then, he’s read pretty much every biography of Reagan. So to say we were excited was an understatement! Although I had a moment where I considered backing out once I heard it was a forty-minute drive up a windy, one-lane mountain road!
My first impression when we got out of the car was the peace. It’s up there in the middle of nowhere. So quiet. So beautiful. I could see the appeal for someone who carried first the weight of his state, then his nation, and the world on his shoulders.
That Spanish-style house looked small, nestled among the fields and trees and mountains. And guess what? It was small! In fact, it was tiny! I’d say 1200 square feet, maybe? And that was after they closed in the screen porch for a little more space! That former screened porch was where they allowed guests, such as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, even serving them a meal at a nondescript oval dining table that I think sat six. (No pictures were allowed in the house. Sorry!)
The kitchen’s harvest gold appliances were straight out of the seventies. The master bedroom had a bed made from pushing together two twin metal headboards and zip-tying them together! The master bathroom was almost the same size as the closet, and all the walls in the bedroom and bathroom were painted yellow. Nothing like you’d expect to see in the home of a president. This was simple and homey. And the small den in the original part of the house? It was reserved for President and Mrs. Reagan, and sometimes their two ranch hands. That’s it. No political staff. Even Vice-President Bush only went in there once!
Above the house sat the barn for the vehicles and the tack room for horse saddles. President Reagan not only loved to ride his horse while he was at the ranch—a daily three-hour ride was typical—but he loved to do projects around the property. He built the dock going out into the pond himself. And with the help of his two ranch hands, they put up the rail fence surrounding the house and pond. And lest you think his “help” wasn’t much, he wouldn’t let them work on it while he wasn’t there because he wanted to do the work himself, so it took twelve years to complete it!
Up a hill from that barn sat the Secret Service house, which was shielded from view of the house by the trees, but had windows across one end so the agents could see the house. I loved watching videos of former agents who’d been stationed at the ranch through the years. We even came home with a book written by one. 🙂
We made one last stop before we left the property. We went to where the helipad used to sit. (President Reagan had it removed after he left office, not wanting to be seen as profiting off something the government had funded.) Just to the left was a ridge overlooking a lake, mountains, and a valley. President Reagan took Barbara Walters here when she interviewed him at the ranch. When asked why he liked that view, he told her it reminded him of the Bible verse, “I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from?” Today, it is known as the Psalm 121 ridge.
Back down our little one-lane road we went and returned to Santa Barbara. But we will never forget that three-hour tour that brought us face-to-face with one of our heroes.
What experience have you had that is a highlight of your life?