Monday, September 19, 2011
San Francisco, CA ; Population 805,205. Elevation; 52’. This is where we spent our past 6 days. We loved every moment of every day there.
Sunday morning we woke up early and headed out driving to the forts and parks. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge. AWESOME!!!! There is a road by the bridge that you can drive up. It takes you to the edge of a hill that overlooks the bay and the bridge. Its a great pictorial site. The bridge itself is beautiful. It is 1.7 miles long. It towers 746 feet above the water. It was made in NJ, MD, and PA and was shipped through the Panama Canal. It weighs in excess of 83k tons. The average crossings each year is about 41 million. 41 million! I snapped away taking pictures. The red showed up so much more in the afternoon with the sun reflecting on it. It truly is beautiful, with the city in the background.
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| Lombard Street |
Once over the bridge we drove along the coast and watched surfers appreciate the waves. The weather was perfect. 73 was the high and the skies were clear and blue. We drove through the residential part of San Francisco just to see how the residents live. I loved it, loved it, loved it! Tommy was okay with it, until he found out that a 2 bedroom townhouse went for $875K. Then he said it was only nice to visit. LOL.
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| the most crooked street in the world |
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| top view of Lombard St |
After going through The Golden Gate State Park, which is beautiful, we stopped for lunch. We ate local. The place was called ASQUE. They are famous for their…..wait for it…..wait…..wait……..skews!!!! We did not order them. LOL. We had burgers and salad. They were great. We were on a side street so we definitely slipped in looking like locals. It was a good choice.
From our parking space we had almost a 2 mile walk to the pier where our ship took off. We started walking at a pace I have never seen Tommy persevere like before. He even walked in the street around the pedestrians. When I inquired why he was stressing, he replied, I don’t want to loose $60. Not that he wanted to make sure we didn’t miss the boat because he knew how badly I wanted to do the tour. (We actually had to pay an extra $130 to stay 2 more nights because we could not get on an earlier cruise.). He wanted his $60 worth. Gotta love him!!! We made it by 3 minutes and were the 2nd to last to board.
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| the shower |
The tour was phenomenal. The boat ride is approximately 20 minutes into the middle of the bay. 1 ½ miles from the San Francisco. There is a lot of boat traffic and a lot of strong currents in the bay. The water temperature average is 58 degrees, and the currents run up to 8mph. This is one reason the prison was placed in the middle of the bay. It made it almost impossible to escape, swim and survive. But in 1962 3 men did. (More later).
As you enter the prison it is creepy! You are shuffled into one of four different rooms to watch a 15 minute film about the facility. It is well narrated, well documented and educated us enormously. Once the film is over you walk through a narrow brick tunnel lined with mold and moss Gross, actually. All original. The entire tour is comprised of all original buildings, equipment used and accessories.
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| San Francisco from the rock |
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| solitary confinement |
At the end of the hallway/tunnel you are handed an audio tour headset in your respective language and follow the instructions in your ears. The audio tour lasts approximately 45 minutes. It is so well composed that it keeps everyone moving along and no one is waiting on, or rushing, anyone. Tommy and I timed it so we started at the very same time so we could stay together.
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| whats left of the wardens house |
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| the dummies used to escape |
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| the lunch chambers |
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| the pipes they shimmied down to escape |
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| the visitors station |
imagine this; once you arrive, as a prisoner, on Alcatraz in shackles, you can see the lights of San Francisco recede. You recall what you’ve heard about the city - its night life, its restaurants, it beautiful buildings and wealthy citizens. But for you, as an inmate, the city might as well be a mirage even though you can see it, smell, it, and sometimes, when the wind is right, hear the people partying on the piers.
The possibility of being killed in the showers in against you so you try to keep to yourself but there is no privacy, anywhere. Its just plain CRAZY!!!
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| the wardens |
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| the lookout tower |
There are 4 guards and 4 inmates who narrate the entire tour. At times it is so very real, very loud, and so scary that I actually turned around and almost screamed out loud. The stereo in your ears is wonderfully done. The prison is comprised of A,B,C and D Blocks.
Here’s some facts about ‘The Rock”. It was built in 1866 and was originally made for military prisoners. They were mostly convicted of desertion, theft, assault, rape, and murder. All from the Civil War. In 1934 it became a maximum security federal penitentiary. Al Capone, Doc Barker, Creepy Karpis and Floyd Hamiliton were some of the better know inmates to serve time there. Capone actually died there for syphilis. He went insane.
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| my new favorite chocolate |
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| the infamous escapes |
There were 14 attempts to escape but the best known is the 1962 one. Frank Morris, along with John and Clarence Anglin escaped by using spoons to carve away at the vent holes in there cells. They made paper Mache heads to place in there cots, crawled out through the vent holes they made, and shimmied down utility pipes to the bay. Their bodies were never found but are assumed to have drowned. (it’s a movie).
The most Alcatraz ever housed was 302 prisoners even though there were 336 cells available. They have 13 ‘holes’. Solitary confinement. We went in one, very, very, creepy! If you weren’t insane before going in you definitely were when you came out. Some inmates were in there up to 14 days. The lights are not on the entire time.
If you ever go to San Francisco, this is a must! Creepy, but interesting, gross, but intriguing. Tiring, but so worth it! From the start at Pier 33 to returning back, it is just over 2 hours long, and worth every Penny.
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| the golden gate bridge |
We rounded out the day with Ghirardelli! MMMMM, MMMMM Good! Anyone who knows me, knows that Godiva is my all time favorite….not anymore! I had a hot fudge sundae and Tommy ate chocolate squares.
We still had a long walk up and down the streets to our truck so I’m sure all the calories I consumed were burnt up by the time we arrived.
We had the most perfect day and hate to leave, but Yosemite is calling our name! Thanks for reading.
We spent a full day in the park. I imagined it to be along the lines of Yellowstone National Park. It is not. It is the exact opposite. Yellowstone offers vast meadows of buffalo and antelopes. Yosemite is vast rock formations. Yellowstone is hot springs and geysers. Yosemite is cliffs and rock climbers. Although they are both pleasant to look at, they are completely different. Yosemite, along with many other National Parks that we have visited, is simply gorgeous.
It is an almost a shear face rock that is famous for rock climbers. Made up of mostly granite it can withstand millions of years of erosion and glacial deterioration. It stands approximately 3000 tall. We saw a team of three on the east end of the south side climbing. And a single man, which was surprising, on the west end of the south side was also taking the challenge of scaling the massive rock. The south side is the side mostly climbed. The rest of the rock is for hikers. It takes an average of 3 full days to reach the summit. It is grueling, strenuous and a physical challenge that few can endure. It is beautiful. 
From there we went to the Bridal Vail Falls. The water descends 617 feet to the bottom. The Ahwahneechee tribe believed that the falls were the home of a vengeful spirit, Pohono. Pohono, which means; Spirit of the Puffing Winds, guarded the entrance to the valley. Those leaving the valley must not look directly into the waterfall or they will be cursed. They also believed that inhaling the mist from the falls would improve the chances of marriage. At the bottom, where you can walk up to, there are signs posted NOT to climb on the rocks because of fatalities. Did that stop us, you ask? HA! NO! We had on really good hiking boots and were prepared. The falls are beautiful and the rocks are slippery but all in all, we were glad to pose for pictures.
After taking many photos and stopping for lunch, we headed up to Glacier Point. This was a full one hour drive up the mountain. We ascended 3800 feet, driving. Along the way we encountered two coyotes. Very cute, very docile. We got out of the truck and snapped away with the camera. They approached us so closely that I did not have to zoom in on some pictures at all. They were young and curious.
Continuing on we accomplished to reach the summit. What a view! You can see Half Dome, El Capitan‘, and two other water falls from this location. Extraordinarily beautiful. One of the water falls you can see is called Vernal; it falls 317 feet and this is where 4 people plummeted to their demise last month. There are signs all over the place that state it is perilous and NOT to exceed the boundaries. It is very distressing, not only for the victims of the catastrophe, but for the bystanders who observed it. Yes, Tommy and I sometimes do not follow the rules, but we know when enough is enough.
