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Published: June 25th 2008
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Welcome to Alcatraz !
This is the at the entrance of the island ! After a great night's sleep I woke up around 8:00 a.m. so I could get the laundry done before we had to head out for Alcatraz. I tried to do it last night but it didn't work out so well. I got all the way to the laundry area with six loads of laundry, seperated it and began putting it in the washers when I look up and see the sign that says "these machines only take one dollar coins !" Uhhhhhhh, I didn't have any one dollar coins, there were no change machines and of course the front office was closed. Tim went up to the guard house for me to see if they had any but he came back empty handed. So he proceeded to help me bag up everything and head back to the RV. Therefore, I had to get up really early this morning and get started on the dirty laundry. I went to the front office and got me some one dollar coins and began washing. Once I had all the laundry in dryers, I went on to the showers and got ready for the day. As I was walking back to the motor home with
Angel Island
This is a view of Angel Island from Alcatraz. all the clean laundry, I smelled something that resembled the disgusting smell of sewage. When I arrived at the front door Tim looked at me with this look like you are not going to believe this. I looked down at the ground and from underneath our motor home there is this flowing stream of sewage headed down hill right for the people beside us. Remember that we are in an RV Park that is built on concrete so there's no grass, dirt, trees, flowers or anything to slow this stuff down. After 17 days he finally got "pooped" on !! He said when he went to dump the waste he didn't have the hose screwed in tight enough so he took a bath in raw sewage this morning. You know I had to laugh even though I tried really hard not to let him see me. I kinda felt sorry for him but it was so funny !! I got the laundry put up, got the girls up and everyone got ready to head out to Alcatraz. We had to return the rental car to Enterprise and then catch a cab over to the pier so we could take the
The C & D Hall Inside the Prison
These are some of the prison cells on the C & D halls. ferry over to the island. We're driving down the road and we pass by the Enterprise place in order to get to the gas station and fill the car up before we can return it. About a block away from the Phillips 76 gas station, we hear a loud "pop" and then the car started to kinda wobble a little so Tim pulls over. I get out of the car and the front right tire is flat as can be. It's 11:10 and we have to be across town by 12:00 to board the ferry. This would be the ferry that we've waited two days for. I call our guy over at Enterprise and he manages to save the day ! He came to pick us up off the side of the road and get us to a taxi so we can make our trip in time. We actually arrived at the pier with a few minutes to spare so we grabbed a couple of hot dogs and pretzels and enjoyed them before boarding the ferry. The ferry ride over was only about 10 minutes and it was very relaxing. Once we arrive at Alcatraz (how cool is that) we
"Cell 102"
This is one of Al Capone's prison's cell. He had many during his stay at Alcatraz. head all the way to the top in order to do the audio tour. I swear you will not believe what happened on the walk up the 13 stories of stairs. As the four of us are walking, a couple of sea gulls fly over us and sure enough, all of a sudden, I feel something really wet on my arm. I look over and one of the birds had "pooped" on my right arm as it was flying over us. I thought Tim was going to die !!! He looked at me and said, "Karma Baby Karma !". Luckily I had some baby wipes in the backpack so that made for somewhat of an easy and sanitary clean-up. So, you tell me, what are the chances that we would both get "pooped" on in the same day ?? I wasn't going to let a little bird poop slow me down. We went on to the top and completed the tour of the inside of the prison. It was very very interesting as we listened with our headphones to four of the inmates and four of the guards tell their stories of the time they spent at Alcatraz. One of
Arrival Cell
This is what your cell looked like when you arrived at Alcatraz. the inmates, who later wrote a book about his time in prison, was actually there today doing a book signing. Of course we bought one of his books and he autographed it for us if anyone's interested in reading it. This place was definitely worth the wait and you must see it if you're ever in San Francisco, but don't forget to buy your tickets well in advance. We finished touring the rest of prison and then headed back to town. We took a taxi back to the motor home and began packing everything up for the trip down to San Simeon. It was going to be about a five to six hour drive so we wanted to get on the road as quickly as possible. Tim pulled out of Candlestick and we headed off to the home of the Hearst Castle. We settled in about 50 miles north of San Simeon in a Wal-Mart parking lot to get some rest. We'll head out in the morning to tour the Castle and then we're off to HOLLYWOOD !!!
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Lynn
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Stinky situation!
Sounds like you had a pretty 'stinky day'. What are the chances of it happening to both of you in the same day? I had forgotten about the sea gulls, but that is a pretty common occurance in San Fran. I should have warned you about them. But at least now you can say you fully 'experienced' San Francisco! I must say that I was laughing pretty hard when I read this. If you happen to see George Clooney in Hollywood, be sure to give him my phone number :-) Love ya