A Trip to California – day two

Day Two – San Francisco and Alcatraz

The day started out with our hotel’s complimentary “breakfast” which consisted of small pre-wrapped cinnamon buns or whatever was left at the bottom of the many bags of cereal they had yet to replace. I grabbed one of the cinnamon buns and a styrofoam cup and filled it with their orange juice which I decided, after one sip, to be crap. All sugar, no real juice. So I got coffee instead, which I usually prefer anyway. Nothing smells like the morning more so than coffee.

The highway, one of many, was only a few minutes from our hotel. It took us an hour and a quarter to get into the San Francisco area. It was sunny and nine degrees celsius. We drove along the bay and passed a place called “Monster Park” as I played Led Zeppelin from my iPod.

Dad made me turn the music off when we arrived downtown because he wanted to, “listen to the sounds of the city.” It was then I noticed that California has black traffic lights. I’m so used to green ones – this fascinated me. I’m really weird that way. There were many arty people around and I thought I saw Paul Reubens riding a bicycle. There was an academy of art and it looked nice. The trolleys were very pretty in a colourful art deco style the same as the piers. We found a place to park and walked to Fisherman’s Wharf.

Most stores were closed, but there was a coffee place open so I got a cup of some dark exotic type. I was out of film so I bought some at a nearby store the we walked around the wharf. Dad noticed a place selling tours to Alcatraz and it turned out that there was one leaving in the next few minutes. We were the last people to board the boat.

Alcatraz

It took 11 minutes to get to Alcatraz and dad and I were the first off the boat. There was a ranger who greeted us all and told us a brief history of the island. In the nearby building, an old nineteenth century cannon battery, was a theatre that played a short film which told the island’s history further. There were a few rooms that had things from the past, like a 1930s tommy-gun, shivs confiscated from prisoners and posters with famous inmate’s stories. Alcatraz became a federal prison in 1934 and closed in 1963.

We then headed up to the cell block, which was equal to climbing thirteen storeys according to the ranger. I wasn’t tired, but there were some people who were. I wanted to laugh at them, but I didn’t. We went inside and took the self-audio tour which had us listening to a recording on headphones. It was actually really good. The main narrator was an ex-Alcatraz guard. There were three other guards who told stories along the way as well as four ex-inmates who also told stories. There were great sound effects in the background and it lasted well over an hour.

Light in an empty corner of the Mess Hall

After the tour we walked around the grounds and took pictures. At 1:15pm there was a ranger in the mess hall who told the story of Al Capone’s life. It was interesting and he was very bias in favour of Al Capone – making him out to be a Robin Hood figure. The audience ate it up like the sheep they are. I really do like people with a mind of their own.

In the gift shop was Darwin Coon; one of the last eight Alcatraz inmates who are still alive. He was there, for that day only, to promote the book he wrote about his life and time in Alcatraz. We shook his hand and got a picture with him. The girl from Texas, who took the picture, asked Darwin if he thought that the three men who escaped Alcatraz and have never been found actually got away. I was shocked at his certainty when he responded with, “I know they did.”

Dad, Darwin Coon, and I

Dad and I got some good souvenirs. I bought an Alcatraz tin cup and dad bought me an exact replica of an Alcatraz inmate coat as an early birthday gift. I love the coat. I also bought a card to send to Maggie for her birthday. We walked around again and I took more pictures. I grabbed a few pieces of rubble to take home. We decided it time to go and noticed that the boat was about to leave. We knew that the next one wasn’t coming for another half hour so we ran down those thirteen storeys, through a tunnel into the old cannon battery and out to the dock. We were the last ones to get on.

Me, my new jacket, and San Francisco

Once we were back in San Francisco dad and I walked around a bit and down towards Fisherman’s Grotto, which I thought would be another cool wharf, but it wasn’t. It was a large restaurant and beside it was a long row of small seafood places – a sort of tired market. We walked some more and the sun began to reach the horizon. I spotted a place that looked nice. Their menu wasn’t very full, but the burger I ordered was good; the rye & coke was not. My experience with American whisky has yet to be good. Dad traded me his rum & coke. He did not care.

Back in San Francisco

It was still light when we left, but this time everything was becoming a deeper blue. Dad bought a shirt for my sister, Steph, and a man at a camera shop tried to sell me a telephoto lens for my camera even though I told him I already had one. We walked back to the Jeep and drove around San Francisco for a bit. It was dark when we left.