Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Fans Chime In On Favorite Staycation Options

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In a recent drawing on the Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Page, folks were asked to comment on some of their favorite local area "staycation" alternatives this summer.  Here's a compilation of their responses.

LOCAL AREA HIKING AND TRAILS

LOCAL AREA CAMPING

LOCAL AREA BEACHES

Beach Options

  • Surfrider Beach in Malibu
  • Kanan to Malibu, lunch at Malibu Seafood, then El Matador Beach
  • Avila Beach
  • Leo Carrillo Beach
  • Silverstrand Beach
  • Pismo Beach

Hiking

Day Trips and Short Overnight Trips

  • Emerald Iguana Inn in Ojai
  • Solvang and Chumash Casino
  • Visit Malibu, Ventura or Santa Barbara, take a walk and eat seafood by the shore
  • Disneyland
  • Santa Monica Pier / Pacific Park
  • Las Vegas
  • San Diego
  • Laguna Woods
  • Bike riding at Venice boardwalk
  • Universal Studios
  • Palm Springs / Rancho Mirage
  • Santa Barbara Pier - Stearns Wharf
  • Wine tasting in Los Olivos
  • Catalina Island

LOCAL AREA BIKE PATHS

COMMUNITY SWIMMING POOLS

Other Outdoor Activities

Other

  • Stay home but eat dinner out with friends
  • Local area beer and wine tasting
  • Catch a concert at the Canyon Club
  • Drive through Hidden Valley and lunch in Westlake Village
  • The spa at Four Seasons Westlake Village
  • Movie marathon at home
  • Dodger game
  • Westlake Village Inn
  • Stagecoach Inn Museum in Newbury Park
  • Reagan Library
  • Los Angeles Zoo with the kids

Tadpoles on Display at Seasonal Pond at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa in Newbury Park

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The seasonal pond next to the parking lot at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa in Newbury Park is still looking good after several months of solid rainstorms this winter. We discovered there are tadpoles galore in the pond and the kids were just mesmerized by them. In the latter part of this footage, the kids decided to "save the tadpoles" that were stuck in mud pit cut off from the main pond. We also discovered tiny frogs, the same size as the tadpoles. 

GREAT TRAILS AND HIKING IN AND AROUND VENTURA COUNTY

Turtles Enjoying a Fine Spring Day at The Commons at Calabasas

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There must be hundreds of turtles hanging out at the pond area of The Commons at Calabasas, enjoying the spring weather, swimming, sunning and bantering with their koi friends. Quite amusing!

The only other place that comes to mind with this many turtles is Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens in Santa Barbara.

Let us hope the teenage turtles in this bunch do not become mutant and ninja-like in nature.

All this talk about turtles makes me think about tortoises too, including the 90+ year old Galapagos Tortoise, "Clarence," at America's Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College.

Wildflowers in Full Bloom at the Ray Miller Trail in La Jolla Canyon, Point Mugu State Park

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Note: This was posted in March 2017. We stopped by in 2018 and 2019 and there was not an abundance of flowers on the trail these years.

We knew this was coming. A sea of orange and purple wildflowers in La Jolla Canyon at Pt. Mugu State Park in northwest of Malibu. It may take you about a half an hour to get there from Thousand Oaks, but it is well worth stopping by the Ray Miller Trail in La Jolla Canyon to catch a glimpse of these colors. More on the Ray Miller Trail at THIS LINK. Directions from Thousand Oaks at THIS LINK.

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Thousand Oaks Ranks #49 on 2016 BICYCLING Magazine List of Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities

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The Amgen Tour came by so fast in 2016 that it was just a blur!

The Amgen Tour came by so fast in 2016 that it was just a blur!

Today, BICYCLING Magazine published its biennial list of the top 50 bike-friendly cities in the United States. The list is updated every other year based on data from over 100 cities and factors in miles of bike lanes and other information.

The City of Thousand Oaks made the cut at #49 this time, down from #33 on the 2014 list. The article mentions that the City gave bicycle safety education to 5,500 K-8 students over the last year, upgraded paths by providing separate facilities for bicyclists and equestrians and added green paint to bike lane intersections. However, the write-up notes that "much of Thousand Oaks' bike lanes remain far too narrow" and that only 3 out of the city's 157 miles of bike lanes contain a striped buffer to allow extra space between cars and cyclists.

Other Southern California cities on the list include Los Angeles (#24, up from #28 in 2014) and Long Beach (#28, down from #23 in 2014). The top 3 cities on this biennial list are Chicago, San Francisco and Portland.

For Class I Bike Paths in and around Ventura County, click THIS LINK.

Other local cycling clubs/groups in and around Ventura County at THIS LINK.

Mountains Restoration Trust Preserves Land in the Santa Monica Mountains

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Based in Calabasas, Mountains Restoration Trust (MRT) is a non-profit land trust dedicated to preserving natural land in the Santa Monica Mountains, a range traversing from Griffith Park to Point Mugu in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. through restoration, education and land acquisition. MRT was founded in 1981.

Restoration projects are a top priority for MRT. Non-native plant invasion has been occurring in the fragile ecology of the Santa Monica Mountains since early explorers arrived with mustard seeds to mark their trails. Non-native grasses, trees and plants have found a similar home far from their lands of origin, and are a threat to native plants and animals.

Non-native, invasive crayfish in Malibu Creek eat native amphibians and fish, wrecking havoc on the creek's ecosystem. Volunteers have removed over 11,000 crayfish from the creek! MRT encourages volunteers every Thursday through Saturday to help remove these crayfish. I signed up with my kids and it certainly was fun, interesting and rewarding!

We learned how to tell a male from a female crayfish from the biologist volunteer.

We learned how to tell a male from a female crayfish from the biologist volunteer.

After retrieving the crayfish from traps set by MRT staff, my kids helped measure their length for a long-term study.

After retrieving the crayfish from traps set by MRT staff, my kids helped measure their length for a long-term study.

The kids had a blast. Sign up to help at www.mountainstrust.org/events-grid.

In addition to restoration projects, MRT hosts nature walks, rattlesnake avoidance training, youth naturalist programs, summer camps, senior programs and more.

To learn more, visit www.mountainstrust.org or call 818.591.1701.

Thousand Oaks Ranked #33 on 2014 BICYCLING Magazine List of Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities

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Amgen Tour of California 2016

Amgen Tour of California 2016

In August 2014, BICYCLING Magazine published its biennial list of the top 50 bike-friendly cities in the United States. The list was completed based on cities with populations of 95,000 or more (roughly 300 U.S. cities are in this category) based on input from various sources, including the League of American Bicyclists.

Congratulations goes out once again to the City of Thousand Oaks for placing 33rd on this list, up from 38th on the 2012 list. Thousand Oaks was one of three Southern California cities to make the list, which included Los Angeles (28th) and Long Beach (23rd).

Keep in mind that this list was based on cities with populations of about 100,000+, which represents about 300 of the 20,000 or so cities in the U.S.

For Class I Bike Paths in and around Ventura County, click THIS LINK.

Other local cycling clubs/groups in and around Ventura County at THIS LINK.