Martinez

 We were in Martinez, CA to catch the Amtrak and while waiting there was a car show /get together in the downtown. Martinez is a bay area city with a huge refinery and it was nice to see a quaint and vibrant downtown area.

 The paint on this goat was fabulous.

A Riviera with another very deep paint.

Sausalito Art Festival

 The Races have been taking up to four days a week to watch but we still have found a little time to view other things. The art festival attracted artists from all over the country and there was music all day. W e chose to see Dave Mason perform and he was terrific. Dave was one of the founding members of Traffic.The chairs and table chairs above are wood burl.

T

 Dave Mason

Mason

Americas Cup II

 Above is USA 76 a slow , past generation AC boat. Still very nice and elegant on the water.

 Team  NZ moving among the spectator fleet.

 Most of the time we like to watch the prestart and the start which is very close to the Bridge.

 Wayne and Ellie from SV Zeppelin joined us for several of the races. They now live on their boat and do sail and dive charters in Roatan, Honduras. Wayne and Ellie are both divemasters and Wayne is one of the most knowledgeable divers I have met.

 Some boats in the spectator fleet are truly works of art , as is this historic schooner.

Alcatraz and the spectator fleet on a midweek race. On the weekends the boats on the water number close to 200 and it is a mad house.

AMERICAS CUP

 the weather for summer in the bay rarely exceeds 72 degrees F. Fog is quite common , but rain is nonexistent. Basically, the coldest winter I ever spent was my summer in San Francisco. That quote by Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain about sums up our experience.

 Team USA out practicing.

Palace of Fine Arts

 A couple of times for the AC Races we have taken the bus over from Sausalito across the Golden Gate Bridge to view the races from the Marina Green. Probably the best place to view the races. Not the same as being on the water but definitely accomplished what they tried to achieve by making the regatta spectator friendly.

The above photo is of the Palace on the short walk from the bus.

 The park like setting we walk by on the way to Marina Green.

Legion of Honor Museum

 Between the races for the Americas Cup we decided to check out a few of the cultural attractions of the City. In conjunction with the races , Impressionists on the water is showing at the Legion. Unfortunately, no pictures allowed inside museum but the view from the grounds is superb.The art display included Renoir, Monet and Pissarro. My favorite painting, by Renoir, Luncheon of the boat party was not there but some exquisite Renoirs were.

 Rodin's Thinker is at the entrance portico. Below a view of Marin Headlands from the parking lot.

Sacramento Delta

 We needed to warm up from "winter" in Sausalito so we went up the Sacramento River to the Delta. About 45 miles from the Golden Gate. Beautiful clear skies and warm.

 The hyacinth seems to move around a lot here.Great view having coffee in the morning looking at the tule grass and Mt. Diablo.

 The delta is heavily diked for water use. The good part for me was the gravel roads atop the dikes I could run on. The crop to the right is field corn to be used for silage.

LCB at anchor among the tule.