Since we specifically came to see Alcatraz, and did so well at being on time, I probably should have brought the tickets with me to Pier 33! I suppose part of the reason I do all this pre-planning, reservation making, and advanced ticket purchasing is because I’m so bad, in the moment, about remembering things. When I was in high school, I went to march in a parade with the school band without my instrument. I’m still like that today. I’m pretty much on par with my 3rd and 4th grade lacrosse players this spring. As the head coach, I tried to make sure to bring a spare everything to each game… and at different times, I think all of it got used. Oh well. At least Mom helps me remember things. But today we made the 30-minute (more?) Uber ride into town from the suburbs, and I had left our tickets in the magical blue folder. Ugh! How relieved was I that they were able to find the record of my purchase and make reprints. That left us enough time to walk along the piers and revel at our 2nd chance to not see the Golden Gate Bridge. There were several other non-red bridges that Mom kept pointing to and asking me if they were the Golden Gate Bridge. Maybe she would have been just as excited if I had said “Yes” as if she’d seen the real thing. But I didn’t dare. Sean chose the book Al Capone Does My Shirts as his required summer reading book this year, and I’d been reading it, too. It was really cool to compare the author’s depiction of Alcatraz to the real thing – and everything was quite accurate. As a result, the volume of birds (and bird poop) on the island didn’t surprise me. Other features, I knew to look for (staff housing). The 12 minute ferry ride, short informational movie, and the self-guided audio tour (all included in the base price) are excellent. This would not be the first time that I was impressed with the high quality presentation by the California State Parks.
I knew to expect that the island would be damp and chilly, with the constant breeze coming off the water. I was surprised how small the cell house itself was, and how much more like a 3-high stack of cages it is, then what I thought it would look like. I was also surprised to clearly see that all the behind-the-walls plumbing sections that you see in the famous Clint Eastwood movie are so clearly visible to the guards! Most impactful to me, though, was how drafty the cell block is. I know it’s deteriorated over the year, but even if it was half as drafty back when prisoners were there, it must have been a VERY miserable place, indeed. The few tiny little steam radiators couldn’t possibly have been sufficient. Though none of the literature mentioned anything about it, so maybe they were enough? There were more escape attempts than I’d heard about, too.
When the audio tour was done, we went back to the dock area, found a place to sit, and ate the peanut butter sandwiches, chips, and fruit we had brought. I don’t think everyone was any too excited to be packing a lunch, but when you’re on the road for this long, unemployed at that, you can’t always eat the over-priced tourist fare. I think it gave us a chance to really take in the place, though, before we boarded the ferry for the short ride back to shore, where it was already slightly warmer. Once there, we walked around the Fishermen’s Wharf area to see the shops. We found a set of docks where Sea Lions were lounging. We’d seen some near Hearst Castle the day before, but weren’t thinking we’d see any more. With plenty of time available to us, Mom and I even dragged the kids into a pub, fed them something off the appetizer menu, and each enjoyed a beer (more accurately, we each had 3 small beers as a part of a “sampler” option – she chose the IPAs, and I chose the dark beers). Then, we took Uber back to Cousin Aaron’s. Caught in traffic… at 2X “Surge Pricing”… it was an expensive ride. But, I had expected it, so I just made use of the time and took a nap.
We got back in time to meet the 8-month old twins, briefly, and then join Cousin Aaron, Tiffany, and a couple of their very nice friends for dinner at a restaurant called “Terrapin Crossing,” owned by Grateful Dead bassist, Phil Lesh. It was some very good food, and we were happy for the socializing. The boys’ behavior during dinner was fantastic, too. They participated in the conversations at times, or kept to themselves at other times. So we adults were able to enjoy the time!
