YOLO folks sail into Mt. View, CA, Apr 2019

The drive along the coastal Hwy 1 to Big Sur took us past some of the vineyards for which Califonia is famous. These looked high and dry on the sandy coastal soil, but they must do OK, and they were green and growing.

A rocky shore on the Pacific Ocean.

An elephant seal lounges in the sun on the sand and rocks.

One seal is laying on his back with his flipper in the air, like he's waving hello to the folks who stop at this overlook to see them.

The distant beach is wall-to-wall seals.

Jason enjoying the flowers and views from a pulloff along the Big Sur Hwy.

This condor decorates the sidewalk at the pulloff.

You can spot where the runoff comes into the oceans by the different colored plumes in the water.  Road reconstruction and lots of rain has sent a lot of silt and soil into the valleys where the rivers and creeks carry it to the ocean.

Jason isn't willing to get too close to that edge of the cliff.

Recent winter rains have eroded lots of areas along this coast.

And the rains brought out the blue and purple blooms along this roadside hill.

Jim's favorite breakfast spot, Hobee's, in Mountain View was our first breakfast here.

Jason and Jim walking back home from breakfast. It was nice that it was close enough to not have to drive.

A Google Waymo self-driving car.  We saw lots of these on the roads as we drove around Google Land here.  They are still testing them, so they have live persons in them, but they apparently don't actually need to control them.  Quite the contrast to the wetlands that we wandered just a short distance away.

Jason in Jim and Linda's backyard. The Mid-Century Modern style of architecture we learned about in Palm Springs is also evident here.

Jason playing with Mazu in the backyard.

Little Bird, their Red-Speckled Amazon parrot, loves to ring his bells in/on his cage.  He can be quite vocal, but we couldn't understand his warbling talk.

Jason and Linda getting ready to shove off from the dock at Berkeley Marina.  At Jason's urging, Jim and Linda took us sailing on San Francisco Bay on their yacht, Chesapeake.

Jim, getting ready to take us out for the day on Chesapeake.  This was a chance to get the boat out on the water again before they sell it.

Jim looks right at home at the helm.  We shared many a good memory with them on this boat around the world.  We first met them in American Samoa when Jason offered to help Jim troubleshoot his ailing Fischer Panda generator.  We had one just like it on YOLO and it gave us nothing but trouble, too.

Taking Chesapeake out around the breakwater at the Berkeley Marina.

Linda was having a grand time out sailing again.

Jason at the ready as the main sail went up.  Rainwater that had collected in the sail cover spilled out onto the deck as the folds of the sail let it go.

Linda at the helm, a familiar place for her, too.

Karen dressed for the wind and cold for which SF Bay is known.  I was definitely glad I had it later.

Linda going forward to check the sails.  She had to go forward again later as the bay got boisterous and we needed to put another reef in the main sail.

Jim mans the winch to trim the genoa head sail.

Angel Island sits in the middle of the bay and we scooted around it via Raccoon Strait to head out to the Golden Gate Bridge, barely visible in the distance.

Jason enjoying the calm waters in the back bay.

We passed Tiburon on the shore. A ferry from Sausalito is at the edge of the photo.

As we neared Sausalito, the tide line became visible as rough water and the start of wind and waves.

The sailing conditions transitioned into what is more normal for San Francisco Bay--cold wind and chop.  We got as far as the Golden Gate Bridge, but didn't venture under it.  We were going too fast, with too much sail up and we didn't want to have to reef down further to head out into the open waters.  We turned around and headed back under the Bay Bridge and around Yerba Linda.

Jim had us running with the wind and waves, flying along .  You can see some of the whitecaps in the background.

We went around Alcatraz on our way back.

The skyline of San Francisco as we sailed past.  The iconic tower on the right is no longer the tallest building in the city.

Sailing under the Bay Bridge.

Linda and Jason on Chesapeake as we head back to the marina.

Back at the marina, Jim showed us his other Chesapeake, a smaller yacht that he sailed solo to Hawaii in the Trans Pac races years ago.  He'll never let this boat go.

Linda, Jason, and Karen on the back porch in Mt. View.

It was great to see our friends again, but we headed off to see more of the country.  We had to cross the entire state of California to get to Nevada, our next destination.