July 23rd - 27th!…read more From their website: "San Francisco Bay welcomes Tall Ships from all over the world as they proudly sail under the Golden Gate Bridge and into the hearts of young and old for one week in July 2008! The awe-inspiring vessels will be docked along the waterfront offering the public the unique opportunity to tour, sail and learn. In addition to the ships' arrival, the entire waterfront will be transformed in to an international nautical attraction celebrating maritime past, present and future. With an abundance of family activities including cultural and musical entertainment, educational programs and events, Festival of Sail San Francisco will enchant and delight the Bay Area. Join us!"

Took the Battle Cruise aboard the the fair schooner by the name of The Lynx, with yon Pirate matey…read more This here is no theme-park ride, yer lubbers - for t'is white knuckles and gunpowder on the open seas, to be sure! A perfect day out on the Bay with calm waters and a 35 knot wind made for some real thrills and spills. The ship was sailing full tilt with a powerful list from the wind as she cut through the slick waters of the Bay. We helped the crew and not just as live-ballast to keep the ship from toppling, but also to raise a few sheets on the double as we pushed it to the limit, out-racing and racing and turning our worthy opponent, The Californian. The Pirate rode the fore-deck hard, keeping a good eye trained afar for the approaching stealthy, well-armed, vessel - catching a wave or two as she held fast to her post against the treacherous sea. We listened hard and followed our First-mate's command, heaving ropes and "making well" the topsail and mainsail alike as we raced and turned fast to get the better of the scrappy vessel yonder. We came close to quarters with the fellow square-topsail-schooner and exchanged a few rounds o' cannon-shot, ringing loud agross the waters. Whether it was the skill of our privateer crew or the heave-ho of our trusty land-lubber-day-trippers, I swear we had the better of her, turning harder and cutting faster with the wind and against... and we were just about to finish her off - till she, perhaps in a moment of desperation, took a little to much of a fierce gust, and lost a fore-jib! Would I lie - she broke right in two, I tell yer! By golly, no one was hurt, thank yer god - save maybe a few egos. And we took pity on the fellows and spared her that day, so both The Lynx and The Californian will surely meet again on the speedy waters of the San Francisco Bay. Probably next year at the Festival O' Sail!

An "art" car does not have to be artistic! But this is ~still~ one of my fav Berkeley events! Kids,…read moredogs, cars, food, SUN!!! What more could you ask for?

If you like wacky people, cool off-the-wall art exhibits, naked wrinkly assed people, Hare…read moreKrishnas, garage bands, pink men, naked wheelchair people with hard ons, drag queens and unicycles, this is the parade for you! I enjoyed it myslef, its quite a spectacle Maybe once every other year it can be more appreciated

I have to say that I just loved the location of this event! The Craneway Pavillion is…read morebreath-taking! There is so much light, so much space...And, the boardwalk was just what everyone needed after tasting a few craft brews. With the sun beating down and the crisp air, it was so relaxing. Although I do enjoy the Craneway Pavillion, it seemed to be such a grand space for the Chocolate & Beer Festival. I spoke with a few guests who actually pointed this out as something that pleased them, so it might just be my taste of small, intimate gatherings. There was so much space in between the beer and chocolate!!! And, there seemed to be quite a bit more chocolate booths than beer selections. The Chocolate Nut brew was my top pick, for sure. Everyone was super friendly and social! I LOVED tasting the various brews and chocolates! From the chocolate side of things, I enjoyed quite a few chocolates. First, I am always a fan of Galaxy! I tried their chocolate cups of fluffy mousse at La Soiree--just delightful! Landru had some fruit jellies AND chocolate! Clarine's Florentines brought some snazziness with their sliced almond brittle on bittersweet chocolate, for sure. There were many others as well! The chocolate was such a nice sweetly loved snack, but it did leave me craving something more... Since it was a beer and chocolate festival, I understand that there would only be beer and chocolate (plus, food and wine for sale). However, I felt people dropping off the taster map as they had a drink or two. Beer pong was fun! That was definitely the fun crowd. I felt a bit of confusion surrounding the tokens and the tickets in my party and in the crowd. Some guests were under the impression that tastings were included in the price of the ticket, not that they would need to purchase extra tokens to taste. This could have been more clearly stated. Overall, it was a very enjoyable day. The band was entertaining and fun, Chloe and Rob were easy to find and super informative! The sound was a bit difficult to hear in the back, but if you were hanging out near the stage, all the speakers were knowledgeable and interesting as well.

This was a pricey event. Luckily, we got our tickets for super cheap from living social ($9 for…read moreVIP!) so the price wasn't too bad, but I feel sorry for the people who had to pay full price. The admission was $15-25 and didn't include any beer or chocolate tasting. They had a VIP package for $60 that included admission, a beer glass, 2 chocolate samples, 2 beer samples, parking and a poster. Additional beer samples were $6 and chocalate samples were $2-4. I think the beer glass was $10 if you didn't get the package. They filled the glasses (16oz) up if you had them or else you'd get beer in a plastic cup (12oz). There was an area set up for beer pong, a staging area for music and a bunch of benches in the middle. There was double the amount of chocolate vendors to beer vendors. The stand outs were tea infused chocolate, chocolate covered brittle, and quinoa bonbons. My favorite beer was a locally brewed Indian beer that's only served in Thai and Indian restaurants. I wish i could have bought a 6 pack of that! Sadly the only chocolate stout there was just meh. I liked that there was a lot of space and no ridiculously long lines. Apparently the event was a clusterf**k last year. Overall It was fun and a great way to try out some local breweries and chocolatiers. I would go again next year, but definitely not at full price.

I did the Silicon Valley Sprint Triathlon in july and it was well organized but there was one…read moreissue, they should have kept non-competitors out of the transition area. I have a crappy bike, but I'm sure other people may have been worried about random people hanging around their things. This past weekend I did the California Sprint Triathlon in Pleasanton. The swim was too short unless I miraculously transformed into Michael Phelps and the run was wayyy too long. It was around 5 miles rather than a 5k(due to a paucity of course officials toward the end.) It's not a pleasant surprise after swimming and biking. It was good training i suppose, but its a lot of money to spend on a race that you can't even compare to your past races because the distances are inaccurate. I enjoy doing the events, but I would like to get what i sign up for. I hope they learn from their mistakes.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me…read more A little about me: I'm no pro triathlete. I run with my age group and usually finish somewhere at the bottom of my age group, but I'm just there to have fun and finish. I've participated with a few other racing companies around California and Nevada, and USA Productions really stands out with their incompetence. The first time I've dealt with USA Productions was when my friend wanted to try a triathlon a little further away, so we met in San Jose and did the Silicon Valley Sprint Triathlon in 2012 at the UVAS Reservoir. At the last second, they moved the triathlon from Lake Almaden to the UVAS Reservoir because of health issues with the water. To be brief here, the experience wasn't 100% pleasant with a lot of the problems repeated in 2014. Now fast forward to 2014 I've moved to Sunnyvale, and I see they have a Super Sprint at Half Moon Bay. Ironically, they moved it from the UVAS reservoir to HMB because of the drought. The distances were super short, and I didn't put much training time in, and I wanted to see HMB, so I decided that they probably patched their issues in 2 years and signed up. My biggest issue in 2012 was waiting forever to get my T1 bags back, but T1 and T2 were only 6 miles apart, so what's the worst that could happen? Since this was a short race, I finished around 9:30am. I left the expo to get my bag since it was supposed to be coming "soon" (I didn't get my bag until 11:45am). It's not like I missed anything at the expo, since there was no food setup and barely any vendors there. After the first batch of bags came in at 10:30am, the lawn area outside T2 became a miserable camp site of people waiting another hour to get their bags. Next time, just make a post race bike race from T2 to T1 to get our own bags... it would've been much faster. Other problems I had *T1 had the same entrance and exit, so those in the back had a really long transition *Long run barefoot from swim end back to T1 (some of it was covered by carpet, some if it wasn't) *Not enough room on the racks in T2 *Crossing the highway three times *The Sprint race was delayed by 30 minutes (not totally their fault, but still annoying to deal with after you wake up extra early to get there on time) *Nobody was checking numbers at the run turn around. I know triathletes are generally more awesome than the average person, but someone could easily cheat and turn around early. So after reading other reviews and going through my experience with USA Productions, they haven't gotten their act together, so I'm not going to waste any more of my training and weekends with them anymore.

Cannot believe there are no reviews for this. One of the best events ever!!!…read more $20 ADMISSION (at door)~ with admission: -Free lift ticket to Bear Valley, Dodge Ridge or Sierra Summit -2 for 1 voucher at Mammoth -Burrito coupon at Wahoo's $20 WINE TASTING UPGRADE~ -Over 50 wineries with booth on site, "taste" as much as you want WINTER SALE~ -Lombardi's and Porters with gear up to 70% off FREEBIES~ -T-shirts, pens, stickers. Jager shots. Mammoth beer. Needless to say, it was a parrrtayy for my friends and I. We drank. We bought hecka stuff! Buzzed shopping! Fun! And nope, no regrets! Love my new Burton boots and pants! =D Next Ski and Snowboard Fest: Santa Clara Convention Center Nov 14th 2009 - Wine Expo Nov 15th 2009 - Beer Expo Don't miss out! http://sfskifest.com/

Great event. I've been for 10+ years. Never disappointed. Love the free lift tix…read more Also the beer/wine tastings are fun too.

This is an annual faire put on by the local nursery school. It has a lot more arts and crafts…read morebooths than children's activities. On the booth side they had jewelry, paintings, clothing, and craft booths. On the kids side they had to jumpy houses, and a few carnival games along with a pony ride. They had 2 food booths; one with Thai food and the other was corn and baked potatoes. But since it is downtown Sausalito there are little cafes and diners around every corner. It was a nice day and everyone was out so parking was difficult. I think we spent more time walking around Sausalito than we did the actual faire.

fun kid rides, train and bouncy. Plus lots of events. It rained but that didn't stop the great…read moremusic, tons of food and drinks. Not to be missed. Changed a bit of the format so it is much more kid geared.

It's a short and steep hike up here. However don't expect a blazing 'C' at the top. We went…read moreduring a hot day and there isn't much shade around the area. If you're looking for a short burst workout this is a pretty good one with a fabulous view. I'm sad the swing isn't there. I would have like floating in the air. We paid for parking by the wooden stairs. However, there must be another area to park for free as there were other hikers en route.

Fast hike with nice views but no swing and poorly maintained. There is a lot of construction in…read morethe area as well.

It was 1 of those extremely rare events in all of human history, an aligning of the stars that was…read moreordained to portend an epic & fantastical coming of... well, of something. The 17th Annual Fairfax Brewfest was on March 17th, 2012, which also happened to be St. Patrick's Day. Oh come on, the numerological significance of this is undeniable. The 17th on the 17th & a Brewfest on St. Patrick's Day? Destiny. So it was written (on flyers posted in almost every business in Fairfax), so it was done. For $25 each, the girlfriend & I joined the beer-loving hordes that fine St. Patrick's Day at the Fairfax Pavilion for unlimited beer tastings of brews from 21 local breweries. It...Was...Epic. Iron Springs, Marin Brewing, Moylan's, Lagunitas, Pacific Brewing Laboratory, Broken Drum, Anderson Valley, 21st Amendment, Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, Lost Coast, Napa Smith, Drake's, New Belgium, Mad River, The Beach Chalet, Triple Rock, Beltane, Third Street AleWorks, Mill Valley Beerworks, Sudwerk, Pizza Orgasmica: drink all-you-can from all of that for $25! Add in traditional Irish & Celtic music performed live by the Gas Men & it was like discovering what Craic was for the 1st time all over again. It's said that everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day. Everyone at the 17th Annual Fairfax Brewfest most certainly was Irish on that day.

2014 was the second year I attended Fairfax Brewfest after 2013 went down as one of the best beer…read morefestivals in the last year. This relatively small beer fest takes place in picturesque town of Fairfax; probaly one of the cutest little places you will find anywhere. The only downside for us out-of-towners is that Fairfax is not anywhere close to the freeway...you have to pass through central San Rafael, drive some 5 miles on a narrow road before you get close enough to park to the Pavilion where the event is held. Coinciding with St. Patrick's Day weekend (and also my birthday), this year's event was a little bigger than the last year's. There were few more breweries present but also the crowd seemed a bit larger occupying the same exact space. Farifax Pavilion is not very large and it can get hot since all the beer is served inside. Unfortunately, it was even more crowded outside where they had several food vendors. Despite the congestion and the amount of beer served everyone had a great time and I did not notice any unfortunate incidents. As far as the brews served it was mostly again local breweries and some guests such as Stone and New Belgium: altogether about 25. There was nothing there that I haven't tried in the past that blew me off, but the waits were not horrible and most of the stuff the brewers brought was very tasty and fresh. The only reason for not giving 5 star rating is that Fairfax Brewfest is starting to outgrow itself. There are people (like myself) coming from out of town and spreading the word of mouth, so the lines for the bathrooms get really long and the main room gets too muggy. Outside area this year was crowded as well so it might be time for the organizers to look for a new venue as they can only expect more people in 2015.