Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Fans Chime In On Favorite Staycation Options

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

• Carpinteria Bluffs - watch for sea lions
• Hiking down Sycamore Canyon to the beach and back
• Wildwood Park hike
• Hiking in Ojai and a visit to Lake Casitas
• Hike to the waterfall in the Boney Mountain Wilderness

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

• Lunch at Ventura Harbor along with boat cruise, kayaking and a walk on the beach
• Santa Barbara Zoo
• Take a drive on PCH, grab dinner and watch the sunset
• Picnics at local parks
• Bike along the coastline in Ventura
• Paddleboarding in Oxnard
• Picnicing at Oxnard Beach Park
• Local area camping
• Libbey Park in Ojai
• Channel Islands whale watching trip
• Camping at Leo Carrillo
• Camping at Faria Beach
• Camping at Thornhill Broome Beach

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

Views in 1957 Looking East From Lynn and Gainsborough Roads in Thousand Oaks

Steve Dibblee provided this shot taken by his father, Walt Dibblee, from the mountain ridge at the northwest corner of what is now Lynn Road and Gainsborough Road in Thousand Oaks sometime in the year 1957, seven years before the city was incorporated. This ridge is just southwest of nearby Tarantula Hill and the shot is facing east. So how about comparing it to a few recent shots looking east from Tarantula Hill.

I see a lot of oak trees and clouds in all of the photos but...just a wee bit more other things, like houses, roads, cars and such in the more recent pictures. :)

See more of Dibblee's photographs from the mid 1950s to the late 1960s at VenturaViews.com where you also have the option of acquiring high-resolution prints of these blasts to the past. Thanks to Steve Dibblee for sharing some of his late father's work with us here on Conejo Valley Guide and at www.facebook.com/ConejoValleyGuide.

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

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

Four Seasons Westlake Village Teams Up With Kmart to Reinvigorate Space on Hampshire Road

This is breaking news in the Conejo Valley.

Four Seasons Westlake Village has announced a partnership with Kmart to redevelop the former Kmart store at 325 Hampshire Road in Westlake Village. 

Four Seasons Motel at the former Kmart building in Westlake Village.

Kmart, now part of Sears Holdings, occupied the 116,000 store until it vacated the premises in 2004. The space was subsequently leased by Home Depot through 2025, but plans to open up a Home Depot store fell through.

Now, however, Kmart has teamed up with Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village to create the new Four Seasons Motel Westlake Village.

The Four Seasons Motel Westlake Village will bring 820 cozy, 120 square foot rooms catered towards budget-minded travelers to the Conejo Valley.

Each room will be outfitted with wall to wall linoleum accented by an exclusive Kmart throw rug. The all season Coleman sleeping bag in each room will comfortably sleep up to 1 person, possibly two (depending on size; of the people, that is).

The former Kmart men's and women's restrooms will be brought back to life after 13 years of silence. WiFi will be available throughout the facility, featuring a quite fast (as of 2004) dial-up AOL Internet line.

Travelers will be allocated one special Bluelight Special item per stay, which may include an entire roll of bath tissue or two Twinkies.

Ima Pulin-Urleg of the Four Seasons said "We are thrilled to be partnering with Kmart in this unique extension of the Four Seasons brand. It will provide all visitors to the Conejo Valley an opportunity to experience something they've never experienced before."

The new Four Seasons Motel Westlake Village will offer guests outdoor physical fitness options like nowhere else in the Conejo Valley. In 2017, at no additional cost, guests can tone their upper bodies in the Parking Lot Area Youthfulness (or "PLAY") building program. "Where else can you experience the physical pleasure of repaving an asphalt parking lot?" exclaimed Kmart area manager Brent Musselhead.

Guests can test their physical strength outdoors at the Four Seasons Motel Westlake Village.

For more information, call 1-277-453-6657 or...

1-APR-ILF-OOLS

APRIL FOOLS'!

Happy April Fools' Day!

April Fools' fun in prior years

Turtles Enjoying a Fine Spring Day at The Commons at Calabasas

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.

Why Posting Your Birthday on Facebook is Not Such a Good Idea

You have 250 Facebook friends ranging from close family members, childhood playmates, high school classmates, frat house buddies, workplace acquaintances and other random people. Some you know well, others not so much. 

Never before have birthdays been so exciting. In your Facebook notifications settings, you can be prompted as to your friends' birthdays automatically. Or if you click your Friends section and click Birthdays, you can see "Friends with Upcoming Birthdays."  It's fun to see 97 people write "Happy Birthday!" on your wall on your birthday!

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But think about it. Do you really want your birth date, a key component of your personal information that can be used for identity theft, openly displayed on your Facebook page?

At lunch today, a friend told me that someone was able to find out his political party, but he didn't know how that happened.

In many counties, voter records are maintained online. Ventura County in fact makes it really easy to find out if you are a registered voter, when you registered and your political affiliation. All they ask for is your first and last name and your birth date. The Voter Eligibility Search is at recorder.countyofventura.org/elections/voter-lookups/am-i-a-registered-voter/#VoterEligibilitySearch.

This friend just so happens to show his birthday on his personal Facebook page. Just month and day, no year. While I didn't know what year he was born in, it took me only two guesses to log in to his voting record. This would not have been so easy had it not been for his posting his birth date to Facebook.

So unless you are interested in making it that much easier to have your identity stolen or personal information discovered, it's probably not a good idea to post your birthday to Facebook. Your real friends will remember your birthday. They either have it memorized or written down somewhere. Or maybe you can give them a hint.

There's a way to restrict access to your birthday on your Facebook page by going to "Contact and Basic Info" => "Basic Information" and clicking the lock icon next to your birthday. You can select Public, Friends, "Only Me" or Custom. "Only Me" is my option of choice. But of course my birthday comes and goes and I don't receive the Facebook-prompted birthday wishes that my friends receive.

Finding one's voter registration status in Los Angeles County at www.lavote.net/vrstatus requires slightly more work than in Ventura County. You need Last Name, Birthdate, House Number and Zip Code. 

More information about how to recover from identity theft

How to place a credit a "security freeze" on your credit file