If you’ve ever been in or near Agoura Hills, you will have seen the words “Reyes Adobe.”  It’s an exit off the 101 Freeway, a north-south artery through town, a once-cursed bridge, a park, and a museum.  Reyes Adobe is a cornerstone of heritage in the city, and because it is such an entrenched part of an Agoura family’s everyday life, it is something that can easily be ignored.

Ever been a tourist in your own town?  I have been a tourist in the greater Los Angeles area since 1995, when I moved to Pasadena from a town near New Haven, CT.  When I first arrived, the spirit of exploration moved me to drive from one corner of the sprawling metropolis to the other, discovering places new to me at every turn.

That was a pretty long time ago.  Now as a mother of two small boys who is usually too tired and disdainful of LA traffic to go anywhere, I faithfully consult the Acorn’s activity calendar every week to imagine myself attending local events with my children.  Imagine is the key word here, because we are usually too busy with something else—or too lazy—to even attend the local functions.  But every so often we do venture out and the results are usually wonderful, like when we went to the Day of the Horse.

Every October, the Agoura Hills Recreation Department holds its annual Reyes Adobe Days, which is the town’s biggest community fair and cultural festival of the year. Traffic is closed all around Reyes Adobe Park, which is conveniently located just off Reyes Adobe Blvd. The park comes alive with vendors and docents and rides and food and games and activities. There is a “Night at the Adobe” planned with sophisticated food and entertainment planned for adults—a welcome respite from the usual bouncy-house and kettle corn family fun. There is a parade.

Oh how I love me a small town parade!

Alas, this is the second year in a row that I will not be around to experience Reyes Adobe Days. September 30th is my 40th birthday, and we’ll be out of town celebrating. I’m used to missing out on otherwise super cool things in order to properly celebrate my birthday—this year alone we are missing Reyes Adobe Days, YMCA flag football sign-ups, a VIP evening at Disneyland for Mickey’s Halloween Party, a VIP breakfast and day at Knott’s Scary Farm, and more.

I can’t remember where I was last year, but I remember dropping Agoura Hills Dad and the kids off at the top of Reyes Adobe Drive to deposit them in the parade. They did attend the festival, but they are all boys. The best report that I got was “it was fun.”

It’s a great way to learn more about the community around you and have a good time doing it.  You can actually visit the adobe museum any time of the year, and in my next post I will show you pictures from when I took the kids there this summer, on a day that was easily 100 degrees.