raising a family just this side of Hollywood
Welcome! Save yourself a click – subscribe to Agoura Hills Mom by email so new posts come directly to your in-box!
Voting in Agoura Hills? No big deal. No lines, no pressure to vote or note vote, or vote one way or the other. Our polling place was a country club. The whole thing took less than 10 minutes. Thank you, The Bubble.
I’ve worked and lived in Agoura Hills for many years, but the Agoura Hills I know consists of the following:
Imagine my delight when the Southern California Auto Club featured our little town on the cover of this month’s Westways Magazine, touting “Daytrip: Agoura Hills” on the pages within. Author Judi Uthus’ suggestions for a day in our town include two of my favorite places: the Reyes Adobe Mission and Italia Deli. But I was surprised to realize that those were the only two out of the seven spots Uthus put on the map.
To Uthus, a worthy day spent in Agoura Hills is a mostly rural adventure – drive Mulholland Highway, visit Paramount Ranch, go antiquing, “witness the chrome sea of motorcycles and exotic cars at the Rock Store.” I am not sure just what I expected to find, but I can tell you that if I was asked to suggest a day trip to Agoura Hills, these are not the places that come to the top of my mind.
I moved to the Los Angeles area in 1995. As a 24-year-old singe and child-free adventurer, I got a job at an insurance company and moved into an apartment in Pasadena with my best friend from college. I’ve been a tourist in LA ever since, and I’m happy for this reminder that I can still a be a tourist in my new small hometown. When a break opens up in my life of dropoff/pickup-grocery shopping/errands-playdates/school projects, at least I don’t have to venture very far to experience something new.
This is the first year since we moved to Agoura Hills that I was in town for Reyes Adobe Days. Conversely, my husband was OUT of town, so once again the kids had to experience our city’s celebration with one parent.
No matter.
We walked down to the corner of Thousand Oaks and Reyes Adobe just before Saturday morning’s parade started and got a nice spot on the corner. It wasn’t exactly the Rose Parade, so there was plenty of room for spectators. The parade was adorable, with the major exception of the bizarre practice of throwing candy to the children watching from the sidelines. Many of the parade participants did this, tossing candy or even other treats like pencils and erasers. The downside of this practice is that the children started not caring about who was in the parade, just what the people would throw to them. Also, many of the kids lost their little minds and fought over the spoils, or paid no attention to their own safety and nearly ran under the slow-moving wheels of the vehicles that towed or led each attraction.
Minus one for that, Parade. Otherwise, it was really sweet.
After the parade we walked down to Reyes Adobe Park for another small-town celebration. Kid 1 met each of 6 or 7 old-timey activity challenges and got his card stamped by each one, thereby earning himself…a coupon for a free kid’s meal at a local restaurant. Free with the purchase of one adult meal. I call lame prize, Festival. Minus one for that! Otherwise, the festival was quite lovely.
And now, the photos. Click through to view the set on Flickr in larger sizes.