The Bridge, The Wharf, & The Prison

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Day 10

The Bridge, The Wharf, & The Prison



Day 10 means that our trip is coming to an end. Though I long for my own pillow and bed, I am not ready for the trip to be done. But reality is setting in and knowing that I have to go back to work in 2 days, is a sad, sad truth.



We started the day by checking out of yet another hotel (we have visited many on this trip) and heading over the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. We stop at the bay/port area before crossing over to capture a few shots of the bridge. We then head into the big city, pay our toll for using the bridge and head toward Pier 33. The bridge is big and attractively built. But for some reason, I thought the bridge would be longer than it is. The traffic on the bridge is heavy and steady, which so different that what we have been driving in the past week or so.



Being in the big city is a vast difference than all the other towns we have stayed and drove through over the past 10 days. It is fast paced and packed in with buildings and people. It is a striking city, but yet still a busy, busy city. Our first destination is our trip out to Alcatraz, which starts at pier 33. We find a parking area near the pier and walk down to check in. After waiting for our cruise time, we board our boat and head across the bay.



Alcatraz – the most popular prison in American if not the world. It housed some of the most infamous criminals, it is the home for probably the most notable prison breaks, it has been the set for several movies, and now is a national park – what a strange history it has. The island is not that big nor is it far from San Francisco (less than 2 miles). It is comprised of several structures, the most toured one and biggest being the cell house. We saw the cells, dining room, corridors, guard areas, battle area, prison break cells, staffing area, and to our surprise a ‘town’ area. People actually lived on the island while prisoners were there. We listened to the audio tour, which were guards and prisoners telling you of the various places and activities. It was interesting and worth a visit. It closed down in the 1960s because it became too costly to keep open. After we had toured the island, we boarded our bay cruiser for the return trip.



Upon our return to San Francisco, we head down to Fisherman’s Wharf. It was a lively area full of restaurants and shops. It was extremely busy and crowded. We had a hard time choosing a place to eat lunch, but opted for the Sea Lion Café. It was on the water overlooking…..sea lions. They were fun to watch. There were over 100 of them basking in the sun on floating docks. We did a little shopping and headed back to our car. Walking is required to get to most places including our activities, so were quite tired. We decide to head to our hotel right outside of San Francisco.



When leaving the area, we see the bay bridge. Even though the Golden Gate is iconic of the area, I found the bay bridge more impressive. It was longer, bigger, and 2 levels. We find the hotel and check in – time to get packed for the flight home. We have to do a little repacking and shifting for we have several suitcases to get packed up properly for the flight – they do have 11 days worth of clothing as well as souvenirs, so it is not the easiest of tasks. We are not sure if we are under the weight limits or not, so hoping we do not have to repack in the airline check-in line tomorrow. We do have Donald’s slab of wood packed – which might be the one item to put us over our limit.



We then ask our hotel for a local place for dinner and they recommend the Elephant Bar. So we walk down and find it to be a good choice. They have several choices, including different nationalities of food and it is situated on the bay, so it has a view. This is also the bay that has a runway for the airport, so we watch planes take off and land during dinner. Dinner and a show – definitely a good choice. Afterwards, Donald returns the rental car and we are all ready for bed a bit early tonight. We have to leave by 4:30am for our flight home tomorrow, so we need an early night. I guess we can consider it our transition back to the eastern time zone.

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Comments

[Mary Jean Wilkins]

You all might be home by now but I'm just now reading about the prison trip. It didn't rain!!!Yeah!! It may take you all 2 days to recoup from the vacation. Got all the great pictures and if was fun to all be together seeing the sites. Enjoy these times while you can, they will end toooo soon!! Let me know when you all get home. Be safe and I love you all.