Great Views at the Ventura Botanical Gardens Demonstration Trail in Grant Park

The Ventura Botanical Gardens Demonstration Trail is a 1 mile trail between Ventura City Hall and Grant Park, offering awesome views of downtown Ventura and the coastline. The six foot wide trail with a decomposed granite surface is accessible behind Ventura City Hall at 567 South Poli Street

Access to the trail is on the right (east) side of Ventura City Hall. There's a parking area at the bottom of the trail.

Parking area behind Ventura City Hall

The Demonstration Trail is a first step as the Ventura Botanical Gardens (VBG), a 501(c)3 non-profit, raises funds to expand upon it. VBG began planting its Chilean Gardens in February 2014, featuring hundreds of plants, including giant terrestrial bromeliads called Puyas, Acacia caven trees and an array of succulents and cacti. When complete, the Chilean garden will be the largest garden of Chilean plants outside of Chile.

Learn more about VBG and its efforts and upcoming charity events at www.venturabotanicalgardens.com.

The trail is decorated with pretty wildflowers and other California native plants

There are some neat rock walls on sections of the trail

A short walk will get you some pretty views!

White-Tailed Kites in Malibu Creek State Park

The white-tailed kite is a small raptor that I see time to time in the Santa Monica Mountains and Conejo Open Space, including Malibu Creek State Park, Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa and the Conejo Canyons Open space.

They are very distinctive with their wide heads, intently surveying their surroundings. The kites pictured below at Malibu Creek State Park on Super Bowl Sunday morning, February 7th, were perched here well over an hour.

White-tailed kites feast mainly on rodents and small mammals.

You may see them hovering above the ground, flapping their wings into the wind, searching, waiting for prey, as you’ll see in the video below taken in the Conejo Canyons Open Space.

Beautiful Rainbow in the Skies of the Conejo Valley on Saturday, January 23, 2021

At the end of a day of off and on rains, we were blessed with this beautiful rainbow in Thousand Oaks today. I was driving down Moorpark Road near Janss Marketplace, stopped at a stoplight, when I noticed this surprise in the sky. So I pulled into the Janss parking lot to capture the colors. A great way to end an otherwise cloudy day.

Photo credit: L. David Irete

Photo credit: Rachel L via CVG Facebook Page

Another shot from Janss Marketplace

And in other news yesterday, there was snow on the side of the road along Malibu Canyon Road in the Malibu Hills. (Photo credit: Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station)

First Snow of the 2020-2021 Winter Season Seen From the Conejo Valley

Mother Nature successfully brought us snow capped mountains before the end of 2020, just in time for the new year, though a few days late for Christmas. Either way, we’ll take it.

Views Abound at the Zev Yaroslavsky Las Virgenes Highlands Park in Calabasas

In greener times (April 2018).

The Zev Yaroslavsky Las Virgenes Highlands Park is located on Las Virgenes Road, just south of Mureau Road and north of Highway 101 in Calabasas.

In greener times (April 2018).

This is not a park in the traditional sense, with grass, a playground and BBQs. This park is nearly 200 acres of grasslands dotted with oak trees facing drivers on the 101 as they reach the bottom of the Calabasas Grade.

A steep trail takes you to peaks that offer panoramic views towards the Santa Monica Mountains, Agoura Hills, Calabasas,  Simi Hills and beyond.

View from near the top facing south.

These photos were taken in November 2015, after four years of drought. After the winter rains, these hills green up quite nicely.

The land is also known as "Firehouse Hill" as it is situated next to Los Angeles County Fire Station 125 on Las Virgenes Road.

To access the park from the 101 coming east, you go north on Las Virgenes and there's a small, dirt parking lot on the left. Problem is, there's no left hand turn lane to the lot and there are "No U Turn" signs for like a mile. So you could make right on Mureau Road and turn around and make a left turn back onto Las Virgenes to get to the parking area. Or you can drive half a mile north and do a U turn at Thousand Oaks Blvd.

This land was acquired by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) for $6.25 million in 2010. It was previously owned by Fred Sands and at one point was owned by Bob Hope. 

The park was named in honor of former long-time L.A. County Supervisor and City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who retired from office in 2014. Zev worked with a coalition of parties to make this preservation of land happen.

About MRCA: MRCA is a local government public entity established in 1985. It is a local partnership between state agency Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy the Conejo Recreation and Park District and the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District. The MRCA is dedicated to the preservation and management of local open space and parkland, watershed lands, trails, and wildlife habitat. MRCA manages and provides ranger services for almost 72,000 acres of public lands and parks that it owns and that are owned by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy or other agencies and provides comprehensive education and interpretation programs for the public.

Orange Clouds in the Conejo Valley Skies on the First Sunset of November 2020

Yesterday was Halloween and today was the end of Daylight Saving Time as well as the beginning of November 2020. The skies turned bright orange tonight in celebration of this final stretch of 2020.

The Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard is a Ventura County Crown Jewel (Closing Its Doors February 10, 2024)

On January 17, 2024, the Mullin Automotive Museum announced it will be closing its doors on Saturday, February 10th, in light of the passing of Peter Mullin in September 2023. More information at THIS LINK.

The 46,000 square foot Mullin Automotive Museum in Downtown Oxnard is spectacular!

Open only a few days a month to the general public, this is one museum that is a MUST SEE. The autos, made by Bugatti, Voisin, Delahaye, Delage, Talbot-Labo, Hispano-Suiza, Renault, Peugeot and others, are works of art from the 1930s and 1940s, when autos were more than transportation. In addition to the autos, there are representative furnishings and works of art from the era on display.

Visit www.mullinautomotivemuseum.com and reserve a visit. The photos and video footage below are great but don't come anywhere close to a visit in person!

The museum will be reopening on November 6, 2020 after closure due to the pandemic.