Quintessential Cottage - Cambria, CA

"Pub" Guest House designed by a Hollywood set designer

If you do something twice, does that make it a tradition? You may remember the trip my sister and I took up the coast last year in this post. We had such a great time we ventured north to Cambria again...

Amy and Ammy

We made a vacation of the journey and did some of our favorite things once we reached our destination (more on that in a later post), but what made this trip particularly unique was where we chose to sojourn for the night. 

garden house

We found Ammy on airbnb and boy what a discovery! We were a teeny bit unsure about staying in the home of a perfect stranger but we were so charmed by the photos and reviews we decided to make an adventure of it! We instantly felt at ease with our decision when we met our hostess. So warm, kind and accommodating she was... 

... She served us apples from her tree!

(we brought the wine from a winery we stopped at along the way)

Let's take a peek inside, shall we?

rustic charm

Ammy lit the pot belly stove while we were at dinner

so cozy we went to bed at 9 and slept 12 hours!

In the morning we awoke to the scent of wood, ocean, and flora. We headed into the main house for a breakfast laid out by our hostess. It occurred to me then what a paradoxical experience we were having. It was an "old-timey" feeling of being welcomed into a stranger's home (like that of a local inn keeper or boarding house mistress) who we discovered via the most modern invention of our time - the internet machine!

The buffet I was most interested in was that of the sea glass collected on local secret beaches by Ammy.

(the marbles are especially rare because most people don't like to loose their marbles! Ammy said they came from Hearst's yachts)

She wouldn't divulge her secrets but in her excitement she dropped a few clues and Amy (my sister) and I spent our entire Sunday in search of the secluded beaches - we came up short this time Ammy but we're not giving up!

These look like gum drops! (red and blue are incredibly rare)

For those of you who are unable to travel at the moment, I'll leave you with this thought left by a Berkeley student on the chalk board in the garden house...