History on Display at the Channel Islands Maritime Museum in Oxnard

Located in the Channel Islands Harbor next to The Whales Tail Bar & Grill, the Channel Islands Maritime Museum houses an outstanding collection of maritime art, objects and unique ship models.

The Museum is home to a permanent collection of extensive marine art, featuring works by 17th century Dutch and Flemish artists Willem van de Velde and Bonaventura Peeters. Noted modern artists in the collection include John Stobart, Montague Dawson, David Thimgan, Roy Cross and Christopher Blossom.

The museum houses one of the two largest collections of antique Napoleonic prisoner of war sailing ship models in the country. Three thousand years of maritime history are illustrated by historic ship models, including the life's work of renowned builder Edward Marple. Exhibits on whaling, sailors' arts and the history of the Channel Islands Harbor and Port of Hueneme round out the collection.

The Museum also hosts lectures. temporary exhibits, open houses and more.

The museum is open Thursday to Monday from 11 AM to 5 PM. Admission is $7 for Adults, $5 for Seniors (62+) and $3 for children ages 6 to 17 (as of October 2016). Admission is FREE the 3rd Thursday of each month. For more information, visit www.channelislandsmaritimemuseum.org or call 805.984.6260.

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

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

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.

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.

"The Roots of our Lives" Living Time Capsule at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza

The Roots of our Lives "Living Time Capsule" located at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza

The City of Thousand Oaks was incorporated in 1964 after a majority vote on September 29, 1964. Thirty years later, City leaders decided to do something very special by creating a "Living Time Capsule" designed to grow over the years.

In the front of the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, on the east side behind the large Mary and Richard Carpenter Plaza Park sign, is "The Roots of our Lives," an area that contains the living time capsule.  A geocache led us here. Learn more about geocaching at this link.

Here is the inscription on a sign next to the "Living Time Capsule" bench:

"A time capsule is encased within the bench below the specially designed oak tree and mountainscape relief with the time capsule theme, "The Roots of our Lives." It is filled with documents and artifacts reflective of the City of Thousand Oaks' rich historical heritage, and current public and private activities.

It is called "A Living Time Capsule" for it was designed to grow as our City grows, with each succeeding generation contributing to the contents of four time capsule containers. This is accomplished through a unique program, whereby:

• A group of fifty ten year-old children were designated "Guardians of the Time Capsule" at the dedication on October 9, 1994. They will be back for the next opening of the time capsule when a new generation of "Guardians" will be chosen. This process will continue for the next three openings of the time capsule.

• At its dedication on October 9, 1994, two of the four time capsule containers were filled and sealed.

• The third container will be filled and sealed at the time capsule's opening on the City's 50th Anniversary, in the year 2014. This process will be repeated with the fourth container, on the City's 75th Anniversary, in the year 2039.

• A final opening of all four containers will take place on the City's 100th Anniversary, in the year 2064."

Time Capsule created by the Greater Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce was buried on November 20, 1989 and will be opened on November 20, 2039. Makes one ponder....will I be around to witness this?

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

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.

The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles is Worth the Drive

The Petersen Automotive Museum originally opened in June 1994 in a former Ohrbach's department store building at Fairfax and Wilshire in Los Angeles.

The museum underwent extensive renovations in 2015 and was re-opened in December 2015 with a uniquely new facade and interior spaces were configured to accommodate 25 changing exhibits in the four floor, 300,000 square foot masterpiece, with over 150 vehicles on view.

We stopped by in June 2016 and enjoyed the greatly varied exhibits, including the stunning Mullin "Rolling Sculpture" exhibit, the "Precious Metal" exhibit of silver cars presented by Rolex, Automobiles in the Movies, Hot Rods and Customs, the interactive Disney/Pixar Cars Mechanical Institute, "Howlin': Select Vehicles from the Nearburg Collection," vintage motorcycles, Forza Motorsport Racing Experience (race car simulator) and much more.

The Cars Mechanical Institute is sure to please the younger crowd.

The Petersen Automotive Museum is open seven days a week, 10AM to 6PM. Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors/students with ID and $7 for children (free 2 and under). Parking is available for $12 (free for the first 30 minutes). Visit petersen.org to learn more.

1959 Corvette XP-87 Stingray Racer in Precious Metal exhibit by Rolex

My boys most enjoyed the "Automobiles in the Movies" exhibit and of course the interactive Forza Motorsports Racing Experience, which was a videogame like experience. Younger kids I suspect will enjoy the Discovery Center. I was personally wowed the most by the Precious Metal collection, as well as the Mullin collection (most of which I had previously seen and enjoyed at our local Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard). Something we did not take the time to do, that I would recommend you consider, is the "Vault Tour." For an additional $20 take an hour long tour of the unique vehicles currently stored in "the vault" rather than on general display. petersen.org/portfolio-item/the-vault.

The Mullin Collection on display includes the $30-40 million 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic.

The kids were excited to see this Back to the Future car at the Petersen,

This Rolls Royce hood ornament caught my attention.

A 1903 Thor Camelback motorcycle that is so pristine it looks nothing like 100+ years old!

The Bench to the East of Angel Vista Peak in the Conejo Open Space

The 1,530 foot Angel Vista in Newbury Park may well have the most spectacular views of the Conejo Valley. Angel Vista can be accessed via the Rosewood Trail off of Lynn Road (just west of Regal Oak Ct) or the Los Robles Trail (either the Thousand Oaks side accessible at South Moorpark Road and Greenmeadow Ave or Newbury Park side off of Potrero Road).

The unforgetable view from the Angel Vista Peak bench, facing towards the Conejo Grade

There is a slightly higher peak steps away from Angel Vista Peak that with a bench that has panoramic views that stretch from Hidden Valley to Boney Mountain to the Conejo Valley.

Facing southeast from Angel Peak, head up this short, moderately steep trail.

And soon you will see this secluded, old looking bench at the top of the hill.

A sturdy bench it is, that has withstood the test of time...and the unfortunate etchings of vandals.

The view looking straight ahead into the Conejo Valley

The view towards Hidden Valley

GREAT TRAILS AND HIKING THROUGHOUT VENTURA COUNTY