A California road trip | Part two: Pacific Coast Highway

In today’s post we would like to take you on a trip along the stunning Pacific Coast Highway. In our last post about this road trip we told you about our stay in Oakland and shared our favourite places in San Francisco. This time we’ll continue from the Muir Woods, after our long hike there. Are you ready?

Leaving the impressing Muir Woods we wanted to make sure to make a quick stop at one of the most photographed spots in the SF area; right next to the Golden Gate Bridge, with that magnificent view over the city. The colour of that bridge is just so pretty with that blue green water! Perfect for some Polaroid shots as well. Although this spot can get very crowded in the afternoon it really is a must, especially for the ‘obligatory shots’.

Bye San Francisco, see you next time…

After that we continued our trip down the Pacific coastline. Literally every turn you take shows you another spectacular view. The ocean with it’s beautiful tones, hills and rocks, trees and bushes. We were oooh-ing and aaah-ing all the time, even if this was not the first time we drove here. 

Because we didn’t want to rush, as well as the fact that we stopped so many times to take in the view and shoot some photos, we only drove for about five hours that day. We stayed in Santa Cruz for the night, in a not-too-fancy but comfortable motel, because we had to book a room last minute due to some unforeseen issues with another booking.

The next morning we didn’t want to leave Santa Cruz without coffee at a place that had been on our list for so long: Verve Coffee. So good! Then it was time to hit the road again.

We drove further South, ready for some serious exploring in the fantastic parks Point Lobos and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, with the famous McWay Falls. In this park you can also find 300 foot redwoods which are over 2,500 years old! These parks are only excessable after buying a ticket, but make sure to keep it with you and you can enter another few parks on the same ticket. And after all, the money goes into maintaining these beautiful parks, so it’s definitely worth it. Oh, between Point Lobos and McWay Falls you have to stop at the other famous spot: Bixby Creek Bridge, build in 1932. 

From the last time we drove this route we remembered that great place in Big Sur, Big Sur Bakery. Needless to say that we planned our lunch here! We ordered drip coffee, vegetarian quiche, almond croissant and the cinnamon bloom. It’s a great place to relax a bit in their garden, the food is truly delicious (I still dream about that cinnamon bloom!), but we weren’t quite impressed with the service. Their garden with all those giant cacti, succulents, bushes and trees is pure eye candy!

Time to move on! We continued our route to Los Olivos, a cute town in the Santa Ynez Valley, where we had dinner at Los Olivos Cafe. This cozy cafe and restaurant serves delicious food and is famous for their wines. Good thing is that they serve many wines by the glass. Try one of the regional wines if you’re a wine lover, the sommeliers are happy to help you choose a good one! After dinner we arrived in Santa Barbara, our next place to stay the night. A couple of months before we discovered a super nice place to stay; The Agave Inn. This old motel is part of Shelter Social Club, a company that renovates old motels and turns them into the coolest places. We’ve also visited two of their other locations, The Alamo Motel and the Ojai Rancho Inn, and they all looked fabulous! We’ll definitely go back there on future trips… 

That’s it for now, we’ll continue next time with part three of our trip: Los Angeles and Palm Springs!


A California road trip | Deel twee: Pacific Coast Highway

In de post van vandaag willen we je graag meenemen op onze trip langs de prachtige Pacific Highway, in California. In onze vorige post over onze trip vertelden we al over ons verblijf in Oakland en deelden we onze favoriete adressen in San Francisco. Dit keer vervolgen we onze route vanaf de Muir Woods, na een lange wandeling in dit prachtige gebied. Ga je mee?

Nadat we vertrokken uit de Muir Woods wilden we zeker nog even langs één van de meest gefotografeerde plekken in The Bay Area; vlak naast de Golden Gate Bridge, met het prachtige uitzicht over de stad. De kleur van de brug is zo prachtig, helemaal in combinatie met dat blauw-groene water! Ook perfect voor wat Polaroid met mijn vintage SX 70. Hoewel deze plek ’s middags behoorlijk druk kan zijn is het toch een aanrader, zeker omdat je deze foto’s niet wilt missen… 

Dag San Francisco, tot de volgende keer!

Na deze plek gingen we verder langs de Pacific Coast. Letterlijk bij elke bocht die je neemt brengt weer een nieuw spectaculair uitzicht. De oceaan met de prachtige kleuren, heuvels en rotsen, bomen en struiken. We hebben heel wat oooh’s en aaah’s geroepen tijdens deze trip, terwijl het niet eens de eerste keer was dat we hier reden.

Omdat we de tijd wilden nemen om overal waar we wilden te stoppen om te genieten van het uitzicht en te fotograferen hadden we gepland om maar zo’n vijf uur te rijden op deze dag. We arriveerden in het donker in Santa Cruz, waar we voor de nacht een kamer in een niet-te-chic-maar-comfortabel motel hadden geboekt. Niet onze eerste keus, maar door een onvoorziene omstandigheid met een andere accommodatie moesten we deze nacht vrij last minute nog regelen.

De volgende ochtend wilden we niet uit Santa Cruz vertrekken zonder eerst een koffie te hebben gedronken bij de coffeebar die al zo lang op ons lijstje stond: Verve Coffee. Super! Toen was het tijd om weer de weg op te gaan.

We reden verder zuidwaarts, terwijl we uitkeken naar de natuurparken Point Lobos en Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, met de beroemde McWay Falls. In dit park vind je ook 300 foot redwoods, welke maar liefst 2500 jaar oud zijn! Deze parken, en nog enkele andere op de route, kun je alleen in nadat je een kaartje hebt gekocht. Maar: als je je kaartje goed bewaart kun je op dezelfde dagpas ook de andere parken bezoeken. En als je bedenkt dat het geld van de kaartjes uiteindelijk weer ten goede komt aan deze parken is dat het zeker waard. Oja, tussen Point Lobos en McWay Falls móet je echt even stoppen bij de andere beroemde plek The Bixby Creek Bridge, gebouwd in 1932. Prachtig!

Van de vorige keer dat we deze route reden herinnerden we ons nog de geweldige Big Sur Bakery, langs de weg in het groene Big Sur. We hoeven vast niet uit te leggen dat we hier onze lunch hadden gepland! We bestelden filterkoffie, in grote diner mokken, de vegetarische quiche, een amandel croissant en de cinnamon bloom. Deze plek is erg fijn om even te relaxen in de tuin, het eten wat ze serveren is erg goed, we waren alleen niet heel erg onder de indruk van de service. De tuin met de reusachtige cactussen, vetplanten en bomen is pure ‘eye candy’! 

Tijd om verder te gaan! We vervolgden onze weg naar Los Olivos, een leuk stadje in de Santa Ynez Valley, waar we hebben gedineerd bij The Los Olivos Cafe. Dit gezellige cafe en restaurant heeft een erg goede kaart en is beroemd om hun fantastische wijnen. Goed punt is dat ze veel wijnen per glas verkopen. Probeer zeker één van de regionale wijnen als je van wijn houdt, de sommeliers helpen je graag bij je keuze! Na het diner reden we verder naar Santa Barbara, waar we een nacht hadden geboekt in The Agave Inn. Een paar maanden voor onze trip hadden we deze plek al ontdekt via Instagram. Dit motel is één van de locaties van The Social Shelter Club, zij renoveren oude motels en toveren ze om in de meest coole plekken! We hebben ook twee van hun andere locaties bezocht, The Alamo Motel en The Ojai Rancho Inn, ze zien er allemaal geweldig uit! Zeker een goed idee voor de volgende trip door California…

Dat is het voor nu, de volgende keer vertellen we over deel drie van onze trip; Los Angeles en Palm Springs! 

Andres & Joyce
On a hazy morning

 

 

A California road trip | Part one: San Francisco and Muir Woods

From San Francisco to Muir Woods

Hi there!

We finished the first blog post about our trip to California! A couple of years ago we drove the Highway 1 from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and because we have fond memories of that road trip we wanted to go back, but then drive it the other way around. People always say that's the best way to do it, because there's nothing else between you and the ocean than coastline, rocks and vegetation. And now and then some sea lions! 

We flew from Amsterdam to San Francisco, where we picked up our car and drove to Oakland, the location of our first accommodation. Oakland is a nice alternative for San Francisco, because it can be tricky to find a nice and affordable place to stay in the city that became one of the most expensive in the US over the last years. From Oakland you can easily take the BART (metro) to San Francisco, which is just a 20 minute ride to downtown. 

We stayed in the Bay Area for three full days, and this is our top 10 of favourites:

  1. Muir Woods (and Equator coffee at Proof Lab in Mill Valley on the way)
  2. The Mill, close to Alamo Square. The toast with almond butter and honey is a must try! Check out #hipstertoast on Instagram.
  3. Wise and sons in The Mission. Challah French Toast, yes!
  4. General Store in Outer Sunset. Think Bohemian treasures, natural beauty products, and the greenhouse in the garden is fabulous!
  5. The Scarlet Sage Herb Co. in The Mission. A Wonderful store with herbs, mineral stones, Tarot decks, books and more.
  6. Little Paper Planes. Beautiful curated collections from upcoming artists and designers. Mission is a fantastic area for more original shops, bars and restaurants.
  7. Blue Bottle & Heath Ceramics in The Mission for the perfect coffee and some shopping. 
  8. Four Barrel Coffee. The slow brew bar in their Valencia Street store is great! 
  9. Sightglass Coffee in SoMA; check out the amazing interior! 
  10. Outer Sunset. Lovely quiet 'hood, close to the beach. Don't forget 3 Fish Studios for nice affordable art, and Hollow Coffee. 

As you can imagine; three days is waaay to short for this amazing city. In our next post about California we'll continue our trip along the stunning Pacific coast, so stay tuned! 

Andres & Joyce

 

Stooker Roasting Company | Amsterdam

A morning at Stooker Roasting Company

Check out the Q&A we did with Onno and Florian after the images!

Coffee lovers in Amsterdam are getting all excited for the latest addition to the city's coffee scene: Stooker Roasting Company! Our friends Onno and Florian will officially open their awesome new space in the East of Amsterdam on Saturday, March 21. They will not be a coffee bar like other places, but you can visit the roastery on Saturdays to participate in cuppings, taste different coffees, learn more about brewing methods and they're happy to help you to find the coffee you love and how to make a good cup at home. Onno and Florian are both well trained, SCAE certified, professionals and have loads of experience. They will also organise workshops for coffee professionals and home baristas and deliver beans for restaurants and coffee bars.
Many good reasons to visit them soon or find more information on the Stooker website!

This week we're taking over the Instagram account of @stookercoffee , so if you like you can pop over to their account and follow along... Enjoy!

To get to know Onno and Florian a little bit better we've asked them some coffee related questions.

Florian: 
Can you tell us what's your very favourite coffee bean? 
Florian: I was really surprised about the fruitiness of a couple Bolivian I’ve tried last year. Loved the thick, gloopyness of ‘m. 

Imagine: It's a quiet Sunday morning, what's your preferred brewing method when you have all the time in the world?Florian: Let’s say it’s a sunny Sunday morning, I’d prefer a nice overnight coldbrew of an unwashed Ethiopia in that case! 

Which coffeebar, near or far, is high on your list of places to visit? 
Florian: Lomi in Paris is always on my list, love that spot. One I’m really curious about and would like to visit in the future is PULP in Malaysia. 

Onno: 
Can you tell us what's your very favourite coffee bean? 
Onno: Clean, Tea-like Yirgacheffe, packed with Bergamot and Jasmin     

Imagine: It's a quiet Sunday morning, what's your preferred brewing method when you have all the time in the world?Onno: I would go for an Espro Press, nice body, long-lasting. 

Which coffeebar, near or far, is high on your list of places to visit? 
Onno: Caffenation Amsterdam, such a shame I haven’t bean there jet.. Sorry Bert! ;-S 


We hope to meet you at Stooker on a Saturday soon!

Andres & Joyce