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Published: April 17th 2019
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Weather: sunny and 60s
States: California
Cities: San Francisco and Santa Cruz
Miles: 70 miles
Hours: 2 hrs and10 min
Restaurant: Hula’s Island restaurant
Hotel/Home: Movies:
Audible: Escape From Alcatraz
Today, we voluntarily went to prison. We walked where the infamous criminals walked. We met my sister, Heather down at Pier 33 to take a boat to the iconic Alcatraz. The skies, as blue as they could be. Weather in the 60 with a warm sun. We caught the 910 boat on the same waters of San Francisco Bay as those whose fate was sealed by their own felonious actions. It was a 20 minute boat ride to the island which is really a panoramic site to see from the Bridges to the city skyline to the island itself which was not as ominous as you’d expect. We took a headphone guided tour which was very interesting. Really cool to see the inside of the jail. It was nesting season for all of the island birds and the spring flowers were in bloom. I think this might be the best time to come because it seems summer crowds would be overwhelming in Alcatraz
as well as, in Fisherman’s Wharf. Everyone enjoyed the tour.
When we got back to Fisherman’s Wharf, Paul had his heart set on eating at one of the outdoor seafood vendors for lunch. So we did. We ordered one of everything; lobster, big shrimp, little shrimp,fried shrimp, seafood salad, you name it. Perfect lunch on Pier 39.
We dropped my sister at the Bart, the transportation back to Oakland and we are on highway 1 to Santa Cruz to see our friend, Paul Frat brother, Mark and his family. The drive so far on highway 1 is amazingly beautiful
If you ever get the chance to drive highway 1, it is well worth the spectacular views. It winds along the coast revealing a coastline only seen in movies. Gasps at every turn. And this was only from San Fran to Santa Cruz. Along the way, we stopped at one pull off of cliff like rocks. While photographing the crashing waters below, Matthew appears in my viewfinder down below as he had made his way down the rock cliffs...ok, rocky...whatever unsafe, slip to your death or bloody end rock sides they are. “Matthew!” Next thing I know, Elizabeth
is giggling and following him to their death. Literally, they are climbing rocks out to the crashing ocean where I can hear Elizabeth shrieking with joy at finding a crab in the tide pools (big enough to drown in). Ben tries to find a path down without dirtying his white/gray pants. Paul, so responsibly, leads him down another less steep path. Now my whole family has left me up here with a murderous man in a less luxurious van as ours who is sure to throw me in with his dog and I become a statistic. Didn’t happen. But, now my family is going to all die down there and I don’t even have keys to the van. Didn’t happen. It was so beautiful that I just took a bunch of pictures and tried to capture it into my memory. Everyone clambered their way back up and off we went to Santa Cruz. We were meeting Corn (Mark) and family around 6.
We found our way to Fairfield Inn after some significant traffic in Santa Cruz. California sure has an abundance of cars and people and people in cars. We settled into the hotel and got ready for dinner.
After the traffic, we decided an Uber was a better bet. We met Corn, Jennie and their kids, Presley, Sawyer and Colt at Hula’s for dinner. We had the best time. Our big kids entertained the littles. Our kids are so good with little kids. Their kids were so sweet. We got to have some great adult time with our friends. They are pretty “RAD” ?. Yes they still say RAD here. Great dinner and drinks. After dinner, we made our way to an ice cream shop, where we spent more time catching up. We closed the place down. Since Santa Cruz isn’t a big town, we could find an Uber XL home so we had to take two home. I grabbed the two boys for safety. We all made it back. What a great night. Off to LA tomorrow down Highway 1 again. More to see. Good night for now
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