The Conejo Valley Guide "Welcome" blog covers a wide range of topics, local information, highlights of local things to do, compilations and other items. Focus is on information relevant to Ventura County and surrounding areas, including Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Newbury Park, Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Malibu, Simi Valley, Camarillo, Moorpark, Somis, Fillmore, Santa Paula, Ojai, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Santa Barbara and Moorpark.
The Conejo Valley Guide® "Welcome" blog covers a wide range of topics, local information, local things to do, holiday event compilations, announcements and more.
Kevin Herold of Oak Park captured this promising looking full rainbow in Oak Park yesterday, the 2nd and final day of clouds and light rains here in the Conejo Valley, Ventura County area. Although this fickle weather we're seeing is forecast to jump towards triple digit heat yet again towards the weekend, we were happy to see the rain and rainbows and hopeful for much more to come.
The Fall Harvest Festival at Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark is a perennial "MUST DO" activity for anyone with kids in Ventura County. With thousands of pumpkins, weekend themed entertainment during the month of October, tractor rides, a large corn maze, games and fun activities and all of the other great things the farm has to offer, it is hard not to stop by. Admission on weekends is $15 at the ga
Read MoreHaving lived in the Conejo (aka Rabbit) Valley for over 20 years, something that never dawned on me is that we don't have a bunny museum in town. But only an hour away in Pasadena is the largest collection of bunnies in the world, The Bunny Museum.
The Bunny Museum is located on a residential street in Pasadena. No big signs on anything, but the large bunny bush is a bit of a giveaway.The Bunny Museum is located at the home of Candace Frazee and Steve Lubanski at 1933 Jefferson Drive, Pasadena. They ask that you call to make an appointment at 626.798.8848 before stopping by. Admission is $5 and children under 4 are free.
We came with a gift, a Conejo Valley Guide keytag bunny, which was promptly added to the collection of, currently (and still growing), 30,510 bunnies of all sorts...stuffed animals, porcelain figurines, glassware, signs, toys and other collectibles.
This Conejo Valley Guide bunny joined the collection at The Bunny Museum.
Candace, a professional author who wrote There is an Answer: Living in the Post-Apocalyptic World and other books, showed us around her 1926 stucco home filled with bunnies, "The Hoppiest Place in the World."
The collection started with a single bunny, given by Steve to Candace, on Valentine's Day 1992. They married several years later as the rabbits quickly multiplied. By 1999, their co
This morning around 7:30am I came across what looked to be a long stick lying on the trail in the Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa area.
But upon closer inspection it looked a bit too curvy to be a stick.
Yes, on my morning run I came across what looked to be a beautiful, three foot long gopher snake slithering across the trail. Of course, one could become anxious upon coming across such a snake out on the trails, but as I kept my distance, I noticed no signs of a rattle. It appeared to be a gopher snake, on the lookout for a morning snack.
Here's a link to some key distinguishing features between a rattlesnake and a harmless gopher snake.
As we finished our mutual admiration, Jake the Snake slithered off into the wild, dry, brown, drought-ridden yonder.
It was nearly one year ago that Thousand Oaks made headlines for a venomous white monocled cobra caught slithering around local neighborhoods over Labor Day weekend.
After a massive snakehunt, the unusual looking leucistic (mostly white, but not albino) snake was found and brought to the Los Angeles Zoo.
Subsequently the snake was transported to the San Diego Zoo, one of only two zoo facilities in the U.S. with proper anti-venom for the species.
This lovely female Monocellate Cobra was subsequently named Adhira ("lightning") and appears to be doing quite well at her permanent home in the Reptile House at the San Diego Zoo.
We stopped by to visit Adhira last weekend. While admiring her, we bragged to other onlookers that she came from our city, Thousand Oaks. They gave us this, yeah, uh huh, sure, look. "Do you live in Southeast Asia?" to which I replied, "Seriously! This cobra was found in Thousand Oaks and has its own social media accounts on Twitter and Facebook!" They had moved on to the next snake.
Suzy Demeter of Suzy Demeter Photography happened to be on PCH in Malibu today when these firefighters came cycling by from the north. They were escorted by a fire truck from Malibu Fire Station #99, the westernmost fire station in Los Angeles County.
This was a group of firefighter cyclists that are part of the National Fire Velo Cycling Club that were on a one week ride from San Francisco Bay to Los Angeles as part of a "Fire Service Cancer Awareness" ride. Today is the final day of their ride, which ends at the Santa Monica Pier.
Visit their Facebook page to learn more, or visit www.firevelo.com.
Dr. Manual Antonio Rodriguez de Poli (MVC Collection)
Sitting Pretty: Portrait Photography from the Salon to the Selfie features long-hidden treasures from the Museum of Ventura County’s collection of photographic and painted portraits. It will open on August 22nd and will be on display through November 29, 2015.
Formal, framed portraits of well-known city pioneers, such as Dr. Cephas Bard, Dr. Manuel R. de Poli and Mrs. Concepcion Sepulveda de la Guerra, as well as lesser-known names were culled from the Museum’s storied permanent holdings. The works on view range from elaborately framed formal portraits to light-hearted depictions of children, many of which are from the studio of John Calvin Brewster, a Ventura portraitist who established a studio on Main Street in 1875. The exhibit also offers a chance to see rare daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and tintypes, including one of Jose de la Rosa, the first notable California printer who settled in San Buenaventura in 1880.
The range of photographic processes shown in the more than 30 works spanning 120 years, explores the technical evolution of photography. The advent of the roll film camera and digital technology have changed the roles of the professional portrait photographer. Also, the relative affordability of the photo gave a broader range of people the opportunity to own an image of themselves and loved ones, a luxury previously reserved for the wealthy who could afford to commission an artist to render a painting.
The current “selfie” craze makes everyone a photographer in the moment, without replacing the need for the trained photographer who has something we could never have—objectivity.
The Museum of Ventura County is located at 100 E. Main Street, Ventura. Visit www.venturamuseum.org for more information.
Dr. Cephas Bard (MVC Collection)
Conejo Valley Guide covers events, activities and things to do throughout Ventura County and surrounding areas.
Conejo Valley Guide® covers thousands of events, activities and things to do throughout Ventura County, California and surrounding areas.
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