30 Cafes in 30 Days
Yesterday, as I stood on the cliffs of Capitola, I saw a sword-wielding Viking catch a wave. Goblins, caped crusaders and other costumed surfers cheered her on as she rode it in, waved her sword wildly and wiped out. It was a Halloween party with a local twist. I wonder if I'll see Santa and his elves surfing in December.
Halloween, a.k.a. NaNoWriMo Eve, was a day of rest for my fingers. This evening, they will furiously bang out approximately 1,700 words to meet the daily quota. To keep them happy, there will be a constant supply of coffee and Skittles on hand. If I can distract them long enough with caffeine and sugar, they might inadvertently write a story containing characters and a plot. That's the plan.
Some NaNo folks like to warn their readers that there will be a noticeable drop in blogging during November. Thanks to the power of procrastination, this journal will not suffer such production problems. In fact, if anyone detects more blabber than normal going on here, it's probably best to tap me on the shoulder and say, "Hey! Shouldn't you be writing a novel?"
For South Bay NaNos, there will be three write-ins each week:- Sundays at Orchard Valley Coffee in Campbell
- Tuesdays at Books Inc. in Mountain View
- Thursdays at Coffee Society in Cupertino
While those cafes are great, I wanted to use this month to find other nice coffee spots in the Bay Area. I thought it would be cool to try something called, "30 Cafes in 30 Days". The idea being that I'd write a bit of my novel at a different cafe each day. Due to circumstances that are certain to arise, I'm not excluding any Starbucks locations as possibilities, although I'd prefer independent cafes. Here is my impromptu itinerary for the first five days:
Day 1: Books Inc. - Mountain View
Day 2: Barefoot Coffee Roasters - Santa Clara
Day 3: Caffee, Kaffee, Vin - Morgan Hill
Day 4: Coffee Society - Cupertino
Day 5: Lowry's Irish Coffee House, San Jose
Besides Orchard Valley, I also have Mission City Roasting Company in Santa Clara and Cafe Nono's in San Jose on my short list. If anyone has suggestions of cafes in the area with good coffee and cozy atmospheres, please let me know. I'll be keeping track of this side project in the side column.
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7 Comments
What a fabulous idea! I have two tidbits for you:
- if you want wireless access while you write, check out http://bayareafreefi.com/ - Mark had posted that a while ago.
- and if you like pastries, definitely check out my Willow Glen neighborhood café Flower Flour.
NaNos at Nono's sounds pretty catchy.
Hey! Shouldn't you be writing a novel?
Mission City gets a hearty second mention from me. The place is great. Spacious, fairly quiet, free WiFi, beautiful couches . . . and my second home. You could also try another joint slightly futher up the Alameda: Bay Street Coffee is another independent with free WiFi.
Elkit: I'll keep the wireless access in mind. Once I get a Powerbook (someday), it'll come in handy. And I'm adding Flower Flour to my list. Thanks! :)
fling93: Pretty catchy! And yes, I should. (sulk)
Siona: For all the reasons you mentioned, that's why I love Mission City. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll be sure to check out Bay Street Coffee. :)
Oh yeah - how about Los Gatos? Dolce Spazio. And Los Osos. And the Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company. And Whole Foods café section has good coffee and a friendly atmosphere too. (And you might want to look at the Wifi site even if you don't care about access - it lists a whole slew of cafés you could add to your list.)
Hi there - I'm sorry you didn't get to visit my cafe in Capitola...or did you? When was your trip?
Please come by and say 'hi' next time you're in town. ~Cathy
Cathy, I've been to your cafe a couple of times. I don't make it over Hwy 17 to Santa Cruz/Capitola as often as I would like. I missed my chance to visit during November of 2004, when I wrote this entry, but I'll be sure to drop by and say hello the next time I visit. Oh, and thanks for stopping by here and leaving a comment. - David