Don't want to drive 45 minutes to the nearest zoo?  Well take the 15 minute drive over to Moorpark College to visit the student-run America's Teaching Zoo. 

This 5 acre zoo housing nearly 200 exotic animals is part of the college's Exotic Animal Training and Management Program and is open each weekend from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  This interesting collection has included all sorts of animals, from alligators to geckos to elephants to emus to tigers, etc.  There are also camels and snakes and ocelots. 

Students in the program are required to work most days and weekends.  For a truly unique wild animal experience you must stop by and check it out.  Don't expect anything fancy.  This place is very low key.  But it is a lot of fun as it is not crowded and you can get really really close to the animals.  We visited and they had several shows in the span of an hour where students showed us an owl, chinchilla, coyote and several other wild animals.  There is a huge tortoise whose name I cannot recall but you can see below.

There is an admission fee of $5 for adults and $4 for kids and seniors.  This is very cheap, especially considering it would cost at least that much in gas just to get to the L.A. and Santa Barbara Zoos.

http://www.moorparkcollege.edu/current_students/teaching_zoo/index.shtml

Moorpark College

7075 Campus Road, Moorpark

Phone:  805.378.1441

Directions:

Take the 101 North to the 23 North to the 118 East.  Exit Collins and turn left at the stop sign.  Go through 2 stoplights and turn right into the 2nd entrance past the stoplights.  Turn right in the parking lot and continue up the short hill to the right.

Looking for something very different to do?  Tried skydiving before and looking for something new?  This is not for the faint of heart.  Air show aerobatic pilots Spencer Suderman and David Platt will take you for the ride of your LIFE on their Pitts biplane out of Camarillo Airport!  And check out the beautiful plane!

Spencer and David are both professional with many years of experience.  Spencer does things that my stomach can barely tolerate just watching, let alone flying ALONG WITH HIM!  Check out his personal website at www.spencersuderman.com to read about his about his routine, including the Inverted Flat Spin, Double Hammerhead and flying the biplane backwards doing the Torque Roll and Tailside.

The duo offers flights a range of flights, including:

"Cruise Control" - A low key yet incredible non-aerobatic scenic flight around the scenic mountains and beaches of Ventura County

"Barnstormer" - Thrill ride with a Loop, Roll, Barrel Roll, Wing Over, Humpty Bump, Zero G and Weightless (for those looking for an alternative to dieting I guess).

"Extreme Flight" - Includes Loop, Roll, Hammerhead, Cuban Eight, Humpty Bump, Immelman, Wingover, Split S, Inverted Flight.

"Insane Flight" - "Extreme Flight" plus gyroscopic maneuvers:  Avalance, Inverted Flat Spin, Torque Roll,  Snap Roll, Tail Slide, Tomcevak (Tumble).

They offer a DVD of your of your flight for an extra charge.  Click here to check out a sample video.

I love this from their terms and conditions:  "Air sick bags will be provided 'just in case.'  Failure to properly utilize the sick bag will result in a $200 cleaning fee."

Check out www.BiplaneThrillRide.com for more information or call 661.554.7194.

The California Oil Museum is the birthplace of Union Oil Company (aka Unocal and more recently acquired by Chevron in 2005). It was completed on October 17, 1890, the museum was established in 1950, and the building was restored to its original appearance for its centennial celebration in 1990. Click here for an early picture of the building. The building is also a California Historical Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The museum has one of the largest displays of vintage gas pumps in California. There is a turn of the century (20th century, that is) drilling rig. There are various displays, videos, working models and gas station memorabilia at the museum. There are also rotating exhibits about science, technology and transportation as well as other more local exhibits on hand.

Definitely worth checking out!

CALIFORNIA OIL MUSEUM

1001 E. Main Street, Santa Paula

Phone: 805.933.0076

www.oilmuseum.net

Today, Martin Luther King Day, my 5 year old and I visited the California ScienCenter in Exposition Park.  We left around 10 a.m. and the traffic wasn't too bad, probably due in part to this being a federal holiday.  It took us roughly an hour from Newbury Park.

It was worth the drive.  The ScienCenter was built roughly 10 years ago, in a space that originally housed the first State Exposition Building which opened in 1912.  The new building is modern and beautiful, with several floors of scientific exhibits of interest to all ages.  Entrance to the museum is free although donations are greatly appreciated.  Parking is $6.

The first thing we did when we got to the museum was eat.  There was a McDonald's and a cafeteria style cafe with Taco Bell options.  So of course we ate at McDonald's as chicken nuggets is one of my son's main food groups.  We then spent an hour in the museum and enjoyed the interactive nature of the exhibits.

Next we rushed next door to the IMAX theater where we wore 3D glasses and ducked from sea creatures popping up at us in a mesmerizing film.  Truly amazing and quite fun with kids.  This alone was worth the drive.  And I found the snack bar prices quite reasonable...an added plus.

After the movie we went back to the museum and visited the third floor "World of Life" exhibit where we saw everything from brains and lungs to live cockroaches to a kids' "Discovery Room" with additional fun activities.  We did a quick walk-through at the nearby Air and Space Exhibits Gallery and headed back home.

If you have more time and energy on your trip to Exposition Park, visit the adjacent Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California African American Museum as well as the Exposition Park Rose Garden (where apparently they have 16,000 or so rose plants).

California ScienCenter

700 State Drive (corner of S. Figueroa and 39th St.), Exposition Park

www.californiasciencecenter.org

Phone:  323.SCIENCE  (323.724.3623)

This extremely large and old California Sycamore tree was designated as a Ventura County Historic Landmark on May 1st, 1978.  The City of Thousand Oaks historical marker (see picture to the right) says the tree is over 250 years old.  It is believed that the Chumash Indians bent the lower branches to mark the location of groundwater.

This beautiful tree is located in the Stagecoach Inn complex at 51 South Ventu Park Road.  Park at the Stagecoach Inn parking lot and walk your way down the pathway to visit the tree, an Indian house and other old structures.  Young kids will enjoy walking through this area and the adjoining nature trail.

Only 10 minutes from Thousand Oaks, the Camarillo Premium Outlets offers 120 different outlet stores that is heaven to those who desire brand names.  There are over 60 fashion/clothing stores (such as Anne Klein, Banana Republic, Giorgio Armani, Kenneth Cole, Saks Fifth Avenue), 25 shoe stores, 7 kid-related stores, 4 leather/luggage stores, 12 accessory/jewelry stores, 6 housewares/home furnishing stores, 12 gift/speciality item store and after walking around in a shopping frenzy, there are 9 places to replenish those lost calories.

Camarillo Premium Outlets

Open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday

740 E. Ventura Blvd., Camarillo

Phone:  805.445.8520

http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=20

Link to Outlet map:  http://www.premiumoutlets.com/pdfs/Camarillo.pdf

Get there by taking the 101 to either Carmen (make a left over the freeway and then right on Ventura Blvd.) or Los Posas (left over the freeway and then left on Ventura Blvd.).  If you're on a diet, you might take Los Posas as the Carmen route takes you past a large, alluring In-N-Out Burger.

The Camarillo Ranch House is a 3-story, 14 room, 6,000 square foot Victorian home built by Adolfo Camarillo in 1892.  Adolfo is the son of Juan Camarillo, who purchased the land in 1866.  Adolfo operated the ranch from the time of Juan's death in 1880 until 1948.  Adolfo's name proliferates in Camarillo and the local high school was named after him after he gave 50 acres of land for that use.

The 4.5 acre ranch was given to the City of Camarillo by the Centex Company in 1997.  Today the property includes the house (open for docent-led tours on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays), a historic red barn and a stable.  In 2001, the City of Camarillo completed a $1.5 million restoration of the beautiful home to exhibit what it looked like during the 1914 to 1930 time frame. 

The property is used for many special events and can be reserved for private events like weddings and receptions.  My family visited the Ranch House last December during the Christmas holidays and it was quite festive, both inside the house and outside in the nicely maintained grounds.  Location is just off the 101 freeway at Flynn.

Camarillo Ranch

201 Camarillo Ranch Road, Camarillo

Phone:  805.389.8182

www.camarilloranch.org

The Carnegie Art Museum has been run by the City of Oxnard since 1986.  It was originally built by the great steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who donated $12,000 in 1906 towards the construction of the building to be used as a library for the area. Its Neo-Classical (1900-1920) architecture and grand scale preserves the prevailing taste for classical forms during the first decades of the twentieth century. Its strict Greek Temple facade in the Doric Order with interior Ionic columns are graphic documents of a young western town's striving for recognition. Its Greek architecture was in fact the choice of Oxnard's first mayor, Richard Haydock. It was designed by Los Angeles Architect, Franklin Burnham.

The Carnegie collection is Oxnard's municipal art collection which began before the Carnegie Building was used as a fine arts museum. The collection was begun in 1924 when members of the Art Club of Oxnard decided to purchase "Desert Bloom" by California landscape painter Katherine Leighton. Money was raised through popular subscription and a "penny festival."

In addition to its traveling and special exhibits which change every month, the Museum has a permanent collection of 1580 art and ethnographic objects. Over 600 are paintings, drawings, prints and photographs primarily by 20th century California artists. Due to limited gallery space, only a small selection from the permanent collection are displayed periodically.

The museum is open 7 days per week and closed holidays.  Admission is only $3 for adults.  For more information, visit www.vcnet.com/carnart or call 805.385.8157.  The museum is located at 424 South C Street, Oxnard.

Since 1968, Island Packers has provided boat trips to all five of the Channel Islands, whale watching trips, wildlife cruises, harbor cruises, group charters and more.

Two locations:

Ventura Harbor

1691 Spinnaker Drive, Suite 105B, Ventura

Channel Islands Harbor

3600 S. Harbor Boulevard, Oxnard

Phone:  805.642.1393

Website:  www.islandpackers.com

Located in Lang Ranch, at the top of Westlake Boulevard near Avenida de los Arboles, the Chumash Interpretative Center hosts a museum with various Chumash artifiacts and history, nature walks and tours of the beautiful local Oakbrook Regional Park area.  The museum is open from Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

Or just stroll around the 436 acre Oakbrook Regional Park that the Chumash Center is located on.  There are hiking trails galore back here.  Oakbrook is a County designated historical landmark (designated in 1983).  There are 11 protected archeological Chumash in a narrow canyon at Oakbrook.

Something really neat they often do is hold authentic "pow wows."  I used to live in the Lang Ranch area and would occasionally be mesmerized by beating drums on my local runs at sunset.  Sounded really fun.  Contact the Center for more information about these and other events, field trips, etc.

3290 Lang Ranch Parkway, Thousand Oaks
Phone: 805.492.8076

www.chumashcenter.org

chumashcenter@gmail.com