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.
What a way to start out the month of August! Avid local runner and prolific age group top placer Susan Kielsmeier caught this rare sight this morning on a trail in Rancho Sierra Vista in Newbury Park.
Although the initial thought was that this was a mating dance, I believe this is actually a "combat dance" between two males to win the heart of a nearby female.
The old windmill in Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa fell down last December apparently as a result of the very strong winds we had at the time. No word on plans to get the windmill back in places as of November 2022, six years later.
Rancho Sierra Vista "Mountain View Ranch" was the name given to the area by Carl Beal when he purchased thousands of acres of the northern section of Rancho Guadalasca in 1936 (the southern section was purchased by William Richard Broome). Beal brought modern ranching to the ranch, including a series of wells, springs and reservoirs from Boney Mountain. Later the property was sold to Richard Danielson, who farmed and ranched here with his family for 32 years. It was sold to the National Park Service in 1980.
Prior to it falling on its side, the windmill was a favorite destination in Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa. As you'll see in the latter part of the video, the windmill did function prior to its fall. The NPS will be looking into the best approach to stand it back up and assess damages to the windmill as a result of the fall. Since the windmill is located in the protected Satwiwa Native American Indian Natural Area, NPS must be mindful of its approach to minimize impact to this sacred land.
Satwiwa means "the bluffs" and was the name of a nearby Chumash village. The Satwiwa area was established to reflect the Chumash heritage. Visit the Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center on weekends from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to learn more about the Chumash from a park ranger.
The Windmill in Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa in September 2016.
Top of the Potrero Grade before the descent towards Camarillo.
Potrero Road is a two-lane alternative from Newbury Park to Camarillo that takes you through some twists and turns at the top before straightening out a bit after the initial drop. Here's what the reverse drive looks like, just east of CSU Channel Islands up to just before the Rancho Potrero Open Space after cresting the the top.
If you a driving a big rig...forget this road and head back towards the 101. Trucks with over two axles are forbidden from taking this route with a 7% grade (with the exception of local deliveries).
For those that live in Newbury Park, Potrero Road is a nice way to get to beaches at Point Mugu State Park, including Sycamore Cove and Thornhill Broome.
CLICK HERE FOR PUBLIC BEACHES STRETCHING FROM MALIBU TO OXNARD
Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens is located within the entire city block of Santa Barbara, Micheltorena, Garden and Arrellaga Streets in Santa Barbara, adjacent to the two city block Alameda Park (which has a great kids' play area).
Formerly at this spot was the El Mirasol Hotel, which was purchased by an anonymous donor and donated to the city in 1975. The donor was subsequently revealed as Alice Keck Park, daughter of William Myron Keck, the founder of Superior Oil Company (now part of ExxonMobil).
The Memorial Gardens is a beautiful botanic garden with over 75 tree and plant species. There's also a large pond with ducks and turtles, picnic area, gazebo and walking paths.
Visit the City of Santa Barbara website at www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/depts/parksrec/parks/features/horticulture/alicekeck.asp or call 805.564.5418 to make reservations.
The Ventura Botanical Gardens Demonstration Trail is a nearly 1 mile trail between Ventura City Hall and Grant Park. The trail offers awesome views of Downtown Ventura and the coastline. And this time of year is a great time to go as there are still plenty of beautiful colors on the trail. More on the Gardens at www.venturabotanicalgardens.com.
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.
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.
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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