Eating the FRESHEST Oysters Along the Pacific Coast Highway | Point Reyes, California

Oh, it's so hot. The one oyster you have to try before you die. Mmm, barbecue oyster. What's up, everyone? I hope you're all doing well. This is David Hoffman from David's Been Here in beautiful San Francisco. I'm here with my boy, Matt G. And today, we're starting our two-day road trip in partnership with Mazda. They gave us an MX-5, 2019 MX-5. The car is beautiful. It's compact. We're going to see how we fit our bags. And today, what we're doing is we're driving four hours north to Mendocino. Along the way, we're going to stop at many points. We're going to also try some oysters. I'm super excited. How about you? I'm super excited. Let's do it. Let's see how we fit all this in the trunk. Let's see how we do it. It's going to be hard, man. Whoa. How's it going to fit? Let's try yours first. Mine first? No, I don't know about that. Oh, it's in. It fit. There we go. What? We did it. All right. You guys have to follow Matt. He's an incredible photographer. Check him out on Instagram. Matt G on Instagram. I don't have YouTube, but maybe one day. One day. All right. Let's go. Oh, my God. Dude, it's tight. It is tight. It's tight. Oh, I love it, though. You have the keys? I have the keys. Start. Let's do it. Feels good, dude. Yeah, it feels good. Well, thank God we don't have a stick shift car because this would be hard uphill battle. This is super nice. It's a little tight, but it gets you snug into it. Yeah. Right? Yeah, you just squeeze right in. We're about to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. This bridge was built in 1933. It connects San Francisco to Marin County, and it's 1.7 miles long. My God, it's so foggy right now. You can barely see the bridge. It's pretty incredible, though. This is how San Francisco is all the time. It's a bit nippy right now. We're going up to Battery Spencer. It's a lookout point. From there, we have incredible views over the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco. Whoa. Dude, the fog. It is freezing. It's like 40 degrees right now. It's so cold. It's foggy. Wow, I've never been up here like this. What we're going to do is we're going to try to see if we can see the bridge. It should be poking through the fog. If not, we'll continue. Thanks so much. We're going to have to go back. I think so. I mean, there's nothing here. And what is Battery Spencer? I guess this was like a military base. Our next stop is Point Reyes National Seashore. This is a 71,000-acre park that boasts a visitor center, hiking trails, expansive beaches. We're going here for three reasons. For a tree tunnel, for the lighthouse, and to try some delicious oysters. It's about a one-hour drive on the 101. Let's go. Feel alive, baby. Feel alive. The drive to Point Reyes is beautiful. You have these winding, hilly streets. As you can see, there's like a huge hill here. A lot of the brush is dry right now. It's really hot up here. I just took off my sweater because it went from like 55 degrees up to like 80 right now. We still have about a half hour to go. Let's continue driving. It's MX5. What's up? Wow, right now we're driving through some redwoods here. Really winding roads. Oh my god, this is incredible. Look at this. Dude, this is amazing. I've never been through redwoods like this. Is there a lot of spots like this in Cali? I've been in the northern parts of the state. Have you eaten the oysters? I have not. I did not know that the oyster place existed until my friend here told me about it. I do a lot of research. We're passing through the town of Point Reyes. It's a small little town. Feels like a western village in a way. Here we're making a right and we're going down to Point Reyes National Seashore. Our first stop here in Point Reyes is this abandoned fishing boat. The story goes that the owners were going to fix it up and they never got around to do it. Then people started coming here and taking photos. Now it's one of the most photographed spots in Point Reyes on Instagram. The best thing to do is come here on the way in to the lighthouse, get a few photos, and then continue. No, the tree tunnel. The tree tunnel is first? They're not redwood trees. They're kind of spooky looking... I don't know what kind. Oh, cypress trees. And there's a road going down and then the trees kind of line the road. And then sometimes it's foggy and it looks really spooky. And we'll see what happens, I guess. We made it here to the Point Reyes Tree Tunnel. As you can see, it's a row of big cypress trees. We have a short half mile road that goes all the way to the end to a building. From here, we were going to the lighthouse, but unfortunately it is closed today. So we're going to go straight to Hog Island Oyster Company to eat some oysters. Let's go. The last time I had oysters, maybe five years ago? Five years ago? Maybe? No way. Maybe. The last oyster I had was actually in Jacksonville, and it was a Pacific Rock oyster. And it was like six ounces, like a big, big oyster. It was, dude, it was the best thing ever. From the tree tunnel to Hog Island Oyster Company, it's about a 30 minute drive. Very windy road. And look, you have this beautiful bay right here. We finally arrived at Hog Island Oyster Company. They were founded in 1983 right here on Tomales Bay. That is the bay behind us. That is where they get their Hog Island Sweetwater oysters, which we're going to try right now. We're going to try a dozen. We're also going to try their BBQ Grilled Chipotle Bourbon Garlic Butter Oysters. Oh, that sounds crazy delicious. And right here is their oyster bar. As you can see, the setting is ridiculous. Right here, beautiful summer day. If you get in the shade, it's a little cold. That's why I have a jacket on. We're going to try a Jalapecrudo. Wow. Like right in this bay, in Tomales Bay. Yeah, yeah. So here we have our dozen oysters and our BBQ oysters. This looks incredible. But let me start with the regular oysters, because I love raw oysters. Got to get a little bit of lemon right here. So there's two ways to do this. Either I use this, and put it out, or I slurp it. Oh, so fresh. Oh my god, this is so delicious. Mmm. Dude, this is ridiculous. There's a huge difference from eating oysters directly from the farm and eating in a restaurant. This is incredible. Mmm, all the juices there. BBQ oyster. I've had charbroiled oysters, but I've never had Chipotle BBQ oysters. Oh. Oh my god. Oh. What? This is like oyster heaven right here. Oh, and it's still hot. Mmm. It's good. Mmm. Freshest oyster I've ever had. Mmm, BBQ. So good. BBQ oyster. Never had this before. Mmm. Oh, like butter with BBQ? Mmm. So my name's Olivia, and this is the whole processing area of the oysters. You guys are going to be trying the extra small sweetwaters, which are the oysters that come right out from the bay from us. They'll bring them in on the truck, and they come in big metal nets. And then they'll hit the seaweed off of the... They'll hang it up on these hangers right here. They'll hit the seaweed off, and any extra sea life that gets caught in the nets. And then they'll go over onto the conveyor belt. They'll be rotated and then put in the tanks. We have BBQ oysters, yes. Chipotle bourbon butter. BBQ oysters. The halibut special we have today is a raw halibut crudo. And then it comes over in avocado lime crema with toasted garlic. And then a chili vinaigrette. The oyster sound is from Hen House, which is a local brewery in Santa Rosa. And then it was founded in 1983, you said? Yes. Okay. Mmm, so good. Yeah? It's just like the sea. So citrus-y, really fresh. Oh, look at that. Oh my god. The fish is like butter. Mmm, nice citrus. There's also some jalapenos, so a little spice. Let me get another plate. This is so freaking good. They have some of the best oysters in California. The BBQ oyster is ridiculous. It's one of my top oysters of all time. And that halibut, I just can't stop thinking about it. This is only a weekly special, so if you're here this week, you'll get it. If not, hopefully they have another great special when you come here. After eating some oysters, we headed along the coast to Mendocino. It's about a three-hour drive. And it's really epic here. As you can see, this is the Russian River. It exits into the ocean right here. And if you go up the river, you can go to some of the best wineries in Sonoma County. And this is just amazing. Wow, this is very nice. Yeah, I know. No, it's really incredible. This viewpoint right here is sick. It's really fun, though. I tell you that. This thing grips the road. I love how it's so curvy and windy and uphill and downhill. The only thing is, I feel like Matt's going to throw up soon. I'm not going to throw up. I might throw up. Oh wow, look at that. I'm probably a more conservative driver than you are. So our next stop on this adventure is Bowling Ball Beach. And basically, this beach is full of these huge stones that look like giant bowling balls. I'm excited. Of all the beaches I saw here on the map, this one looks like the best one. So the Bowling Ball Beach has no signs. The only way you know where it is, is the sign that says, what does it say? Schooner Gulch. Schooner, schooner, something like that. Something like that. And then you park your car, and you take the second trail up. So the only problem here is that if it's high tide, you won't see these huge stones. I'm hoping we see them. Woo, windy. Nothing, right? I mean, that's the part about traveling, it's amazing. It's not about the destination, it's the journey. We had a fun day today, getting here. Is it really about the journey? We have about a one hour drive to go. It's a bummer we didn't see the big bowling balls, but that's always a great reason to come back. So let's go to Mendocino. What a long day. It's been really a beautiful ride. And now we're headed to our last stop of the day. It's called the Heritage House Resort. It's an incredible resort, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, about a 20 minute drive south of Mendocino. And from what I've seen, each room is just beautiful. Once we get there, I'm going to give you a tour of my room. Let's go. A lot of Miatas. Thank you. Thank you, see you later at dinner. See you in a bit, thank you so much. This property is incredible. Heritage House Resort on the Mendocino coast. Look at my cottage, this is so sick. So I have a huge room, king size bed, TV. I'm loving this bathroom. This is so sweet. This place reminds me of a ranch style resort that I would go to in South Africa or something. Looks really nice and it also feels like Ireland. And this is my deck. I mean, I'm in love with this place. And every single room in this resort has a view of the Pacific Ocean. So I hope you loved the drive today. My favorite part was probably the barbecue oysters and the halibut. The food was ridiculous. Wow, so freaking good. And the drive was just amazing. I mean, it's definitely something you have to add to your bucket list. Driving along the Pacific Highway in California. You know, we did it from San Francisco up to Mendocino. And definitely do it in a convertible. I'd say do it in a MX-5, a Mazda MX-5. Definitely worth it. And if you loved this video, please give it a thumbs up. Leave me a comment below and subscribe to my channel. I'll see you on the next travel adventure. Peace.