California Book Tour and Travel Highlights
Last Fall, the publication of our book “In Stitches: The Enchanted World of Coral & Tusk” took Stephanie on the road for a book tour! The first leg of her tour was in New York state, and then she headed off to California. Today we’re sharing some of Stephanie’s favorite places she visited while on book tour in the Bay Area and Santa Barbara, just in time for Spring Break trip planning.
SAN FRANCISCO
The last time I visited San Francisco was 10 years ago! We exhibited at Renegade Craft Fair in July of 2014. I was excited to revisit the city after a decade and was given the tremendous, generous gift of staying in the stunning apartment of a friend in Pacific Heights. She gave me a perfectly curated list of where to explore, eat and shop, which led me to have a truly delightful time during my short stay in this wonderful city.
The amazing display at Sue Fisher King for the Coral & Tusk book signing.
San Francisco was the first stop on the California book tour and my book signing at Sue Fisher King was a thoroughly enjoyable experience! The entire Sue Fisher King team pulled out ALL the stops to transform the entire store into a comprehensive Coral & Tusk WORLD! Sarah Elwell even brought in her personal Woodsey sets (The plush animal toy series created by Fischer Price in the 1980s.) and her childhood collection Beatrix Potter books, to make me feel even more at home as these are some of the works that inspire me most.
Right: Stephanie and Sue. Left: Stephanie and the amazing Sue Fisher King team
The windows and store displays were stunning, and the team even printed large scale spreads from the book and had them on display. I was able to meet so many wonderful folks at the event, long time devoted Sue Fisher King clients, friends of Sue, amazing individuals, and old friends! I was so moved by the deep investment everyone put into making this event so successful. And for a cherry on top we all enjoyed a delightful dinner next door at Florio afterwards!
I am truly thankful to have been shown such total love and care by this talented and thoughtful group!
While in San Francisco, I luckily had some time to enjoy delicious foods and amazing hikes, a few of my highlights are below:
Redwoods on the Dipsea trail.
HIKES
This is a stunning hike! You move through sand and coastal foliage, then deep into the redwood forest into Muir Woods National Monument. To experience the scale of these evergreens is a gift! The weather was perfect. I enjoyed watching a large Hairy Woodpecker make quite a racket on his search for bugs in a large decaying redwood. Another treat was spotting a family of California quails right on the hiking path for a couple of fleeting moments before skittering off into the brush! I ended up parking at Stinson Beach, which was such an added bonus as I began and ended the hike on the edge of the Pacific!
A Coulter Pinecone, with Wolf doll for scale!
Mitchell Creek to Diablo Summit
Next up, knowing that I’d be returning home to winter in Wyoming so I really wanted a challenging last hoorah. I googled “hardest, best day hike near San Francisco” and what repeatedly came up was…Mount Diablo! I was slightly hesitant based on the All Trails reviews, but decided after checking with some locals that this would be the perfect hike without spending too much time getting there!
The Mitchell Creek to Diablo Summit is the “hard” way, but it’s well worth the extra effort in my opinion! Because there is so much climbing, the treat is getting to experience a broad array of landscapes, plants, trees, views, and solitude!
My favorite discovery was learning all about the coulter pine cone and getting to see hundreds of them all along the hike. This is the biggest pinecone and can weigh up to 10 lbs!
Running in the Presidio in San Francisco
Not so much a hike, but an excellent running, biking, or walking area within the city. I ran all over the Presidio, down to Marshall Beach, over to Golden Gate Promenade and everything in between
The landscape on the Mount Diablo hike.
EATS
Ridiculously good pizza, specifically the BASIL AND STRACCIATELLA PIE.
Unbelievably good gourmet vegan.
Across the street from Wildseed is Gio Gelati. I was trying to decide what to get when the person helping me said that a patron comes every single day for a scoop of Salted Caramel. I now understand why!
This recommendation came from the delightful Sarah Elwell at Sue Fisher King. Their bread is perfection and they have a Gose beer on tap which was outstanding. They also have a kohlrabi salad on their menu which immediately won me over (as if I wasn’t already!)
Not that I need to choose a favorite, but I’ve been keeping my experience at Tartine on a pedestal for 10 years. I have to say the flight of baked goods I experienced at b patisserie created an even higher pedestal to perch themselves on!
Our book event at The Gardener in Berkeley, CA.
BERKELEY
After my delightful stay in San Francisco, I made a quick stop in Berkeley before heading south, and did a book signing at The Gardener! I got to meet and chat with several long time customers which was an unexpected treat for me!! It’s incredible to put faces to names who have been supportive of our work for a decade!
I also got to meet up with Aimee and Christiana of Hygge & West which was a DREAM! I haven’t seen them since they came here to shoot our house in WY for their beautiful book “Hygge & West Home Book” in November of 2016! I am so thankful to have their continued friendship and partnership!
The beautiful display at Folly Home!
SANTA BARBARA
The last stop on the book tour was actually where the seed for the book was planted!! My dear friend, Seal Graeber, lives in Santa Barbara. We met at trade shows and over the last decade have developed a delightful friendship. She is an unapologetically beaming being of excitement and enthusiasm. She had gone to a new neighbor’s home, who just happened to be Douglas and Allegra Yust Woods and on her way out, she took note and commented on one of our embroidered cards that Allegra had framed hanging on her inspiration wall. There was an instant connection and Allegra mentioned what an incredibly fun and wonderful Coral & Tusk book she had been envisioning over the years! Seal made the connection and introduced me to Allegra and Doug, the powerhouse team, who I am now so fortunate to call friends, ambassadors and collaborators. This book never would have come to be without this serendipitous convergence.
Our last book signing was at our beloved stockist, Folly! It was such a fun day of book signings, meeting fellow artists and creatives who live in the area, loyal customers, friends of friends, and I have to guess everyone you’d ever be lucky enough to meet in the general vicinity!
Folly was founded and is owned by Alyssa Remington and has perfectly curated her shop with lovely, meaningful, thoughtfully crafted products- like locals Virginia McCracken , Erika Carter, Karen Bezuidenhout, Mary Stanley and many more! The community here did an amazing job of getting everyone to come out for this and I am so thankful to have had this experience! We had a YAY WE DID IT celebration dinner at Bibi ji down the street which was excellent!
Hiking in Ojai with Seale
OJAI
With one extra day on my California trip I was treated to a day visiting Ojai with Seal! She picked me up bright and early so we would have plenty of time to squeeze in a 10 mile hike, have lunch at the amazing Farmer & the Cook (the Huarache was out of this world), pop into beautiful shops like Bungalow, Noted, and Blue, get soft serve at Rory’s Other Place AND have the wonderful opportunity to meet the web developers we recently started working with - Bondfire which was a JOY (they are a very talented team that we are overjoyed to be working with them, more to come on that soon!)
Unbelievably the day only got better when we got back to Seal’s home for dinner and her husband, Scooter, made us homemade Kati Rolls with homemade rotis and chai! He has made over 100 Yotam Ottolenghi recipes! He is a fantastic chef and their home is so happy and joyful, as is their company and presence.
A California Quail spotted on a hike!
It was an honor to have been hosted for all of these book signings! I was welcomed wholeheartedly by the individual stores and the communities of people that support them by continuing to choose to shop there. It matters where we choose to spend our money. Championing small, independently owned businesses has a direct effect on the people who own those businesses, the employees who make their living there, and the vendors that have their wares stocked in these shops. I watched how invested the people who own and work in these stores are in their clients' lives. It made a deep impression to see this relationship and felt so uplifting. I am full of gratitude to all of the careful, thoughtful preparations the shops made to make these events a success, and to each single individual who came out to get a book and visit. THANK YOU!
