After waking up in the parking lot and brushing teeth in the McDonald's we headed back toward San Francisco. We picked up some milk and peanut butter at the grocery store and had breakfast before finding our way downtown to Fisherman's Wharf and walking around before anything really opened.
We could see Alcatraz from the shore. I can see why they call it The Rock. Most things were still closed since it was so early, but we looked around at some of the things we could do and checked out some souvenir stores to kill time.
When the time came I got a ticket for the Alcatraz tour and got on the next departing boat. It was very overpriced. Typical. The description of the park is "this national park is free to the public but transport to the island is provided by a private company." They neglect to mention the exorbitant amount of money said private company charges for the very short ferry ride to the park.
The view of San Francisco's downtown skyline was nice as we left the dock and headed to The Rock.
The ride was short with plenty of opportunities to take shots of the city and the island as we came upon it. We docked and slowly disembarked onto the same dock so many notorious criminals must have walked upon sometimes in the past century.
After a quick orientation from a Ranger we were set free to explore the former penitentiary. I recognized a few things, both from pictures I had seen before and from the movie The Rock.
I watched a Discovery Channel video about Alcatraz that was playing near the dock and learned about its history as a fort, civil war prison, Federal penitentiary, Native American protest ground and, finally, a National Park. Then I wandered and saw some of the dark hallways that still seem to echo sounds of voices long gone.
I walked to the top of the steep hill where the main jail was located. I got a headset to follow along with as I walked the halls of the cell blocks. There were a lot of people there, but I tried to imagine what it would be like if it were empty in the halls.
The main corridor was called "Broadway" and consisted of three tiers of cells on each side. The cells were never completely filled at any point, but I can imagine what it would have been like to be in there with so many prisoners.
The walking tour took me through the rec yard, the library and the solitary confinement cells for the problem inmates. The audio tour was a great way to experience the prison at my own pace.
This corridor behind the cells was visible to show where three prisoners made their way through their cell walls and climbed up to the roof. They are the only prisoners to ever disappear from The Rock without being accounted for later, dead or alive.
After seeing the officer's area, the warden's office and the outside view, I was led back through the main cells. I stood inside one of the cells to imagine what it would be like to spend any amount of time stuck in such a small space. It wouldn't be pleasant. There weren't a lot of amenities.
When I finished the audio tour I saw the dining area on my way back outside. There wasn't a whole lot more to the grounds but I liked this water tower. It had some character as well as being recognizable from photos I've seen of Alcatraz in the past.
I caught the next boat back to the city and got some nice shots of the row houses and skyline on the way.
I met back up with Joanna and went to Boudin for lunch. The place is famous for their sourdough bread and they had baskets of it being transported across the ceiling.
I got a delicious bread bowl. It was more than filling but I was really hungry so I didn't mind. They also make bread into things like turtles and streetcars.
We took a walk around the city and visited the ridiculous "most winding street in the country (or world?)." Either way, I don't believe it. It's stupidly winding, but I think the roads in Utah were more so. The hills in San Francisco really are insanely steep and this was no exception.
We were going to take a ride in an historic streetcar if the prices weren't a little too high. I settled for just watching them and enjoying them that way.
We had to drive down the stupidly winding street before we left, of course. It wasn't really that exciting at all. We went to a park near the famed row houses to get some nice shots. I can't get the Full House theme out of my head..
We spent some time walking around there while plenty of people were enjoying the nice weather out on the grass.
We planned to see the sunset at the Golden Gate Bridge, however the weather had other plans. It was very foggy all day so the sunset was out. I got some decent shots in the fog which I kind of like because it's not "perfect."
We slowly rode the brake through traffic in the city on our way west. Eventually we made it to the Bay Bridge and out of traffic. We saw the sunset from the highway instead of Golden Gate Park. Can't win 'em all.
We found a campground near Yosemite, where we planned to explore the next day so we took it. The stars were bright and I took a handful of photos through the tall trees that surrounded our site.
I was having fun playing with long exposures and my flashlight as well before getting ready for bed. I took a lot of shots like this and some really great ones of the creepy stairs to the bathhouse.
Once I was done playing it was bedtime. I wanted to do more but I don't have a tripod so it's not that easy.
Total distance: 190.8. A short trip that took a long time because the traffic was terrible at first and the roads later were slow and winding.
After waking up in the parking lot and brushing teeth in the McDonald's we headed back toward San Francisco. We picked up some milk and peanut butter at the grocery store and had breakfast before finding our way downtown to Fisherman's Wharf and walking around before anything really opened.
We could see Alcatraz from the shore. I can see why they call it The Rock. Most things were still closed since it was so early, but we looked around at some of the things we could do and checked out some souvenir stores to kill time.
When the time came I got a ticket for the Alcatraz tour and got on the next departing boat. It was very overpriced. Typical. The description of the park is "this national park is free to the public but transport to the island is provided by a private company." They neglect to mention the exorbitant amount of money said private company charges for the very short ferry ride to the park.
The view of San Francisco's downtown skyline was nice as we left the dock and headed to The Rock.
The ride was short with plenty of opportunities to take shots of the city and the island as we came upon it. We docked and slowly disembarked onto the same dock so many notorious criminals must have walked upon sometimes in the past century.
After a quick orientation from a Ranger we were set free to explore the former penitentiary. I recognized a few things, both from pictures I had seen before and from the movie The Rock.
I watched a Discovery Channel video about Alcatraz that was playing near the dock and learned about its history as a fort, civil war prison, Federal penitentiary, Native American protest ground and, finally, a National Park. Then I wandered and saw some of the dark hallways that still seem to echo sounds of voices long gone.
I walked to the top of the steep hill where the main jail was located. I got a headset to follow along with as I walked the halls of the cell blocks. There were a lot of people there, but I tried to imagine what it would be like if it were empty in the halls.
The main corridor was called "Broadway" and consisted of three tiers of cells on each side. The cells were never completely filled at any point, but I can imagine what it would have been like to be in there with so many prisoners.
The walking tour took me through the rec yard, the library and the solitary confinement cells for the problem inmates. The audio tour was a great way to experience the prison at my own pace.
This corridor behind the cells was visible to show where three prisoners made their way through their cell walls and climbed up to the roof. They are the only prisoners to ever disappear from The Rock without being accounted for later, dead or alive.
After seeing the officer's area, the warden's office and the outside view, I was led back through the main cells. I stood inside one of the cells to imagine what it would be like to spend any amount of time stuck in such a small space. It wouldn't be pleasant. There weren't a lot of amenities.
When I finished the audio tour I saw the dining area on my way back outside. There wasn't a whole lot more to the grounds but I liked this water tower. It had some character as well as being recognizable from photos I've seen of Alcatraz in the past.
I caught the next boat back to the city and got some nice shots of the row houses and skyline on the way.
I met back up with Joanna and went to Boudin for lunch. The place is famous for their sourdough bread and they had baskets of it being transported across the ceiling.
I got a delicious bread bowl. It was more than filling but I was really hungry so I didn't mind. They also make bread into things like turtles and streetcars.
We took a walk around the city and visited the ridiculous "most winding street in the country (or world?)." Either way, I don't believe it. It's stupidly winding, but I think the roads in Utah were more so. The hills in San Francisco really are insanely steep and this was no exception.
We were going to take a ride in an historic streetcar if the prices weren't a little too high. I settled for just watching them and enjoying them that way.
We had to drive down the stupidly winding street before we left, of course. It wasn't really that exciting at all. We went to a park near the famed row houses to get some nice shots. I can't get the Full House theme out of my head..
We spent some time walking around there while plenty of people were enjoying the nice weather out on the grass.
We planned to see the sunset at the Golden Gate Bridge, however the weather had other plans. It was very foggy all day so the sunset was out. I got some decent shots in the fog which I kind of like because it's not "perfect."
We slowly rode the brake through traffic in the city on our way west. Eventually we made it to the Bay Bridge and out of traffic. We saw the sunset from the highway instead of Golden Gate Park. Can't win 'em all.
We found a campground near Yosemite, where we planned to explore the next day so we took it. The stars were bright and I took a handful of photos through the tall trees that surrounded our site.
I was having fun playing with long exposures and my flashlight as well before getting ready for bed. I took a lot of shots like this and some really great ones of the creepy stairs to the bathhouse.
Once I was done playing it was bedtime. I wanted to do more but I don't have a tripod so it's not that easy.
Total distance: 190.8. A short trip that took a long time because the traffic was terrible at first and the roads later were slow and winding.
2 comments:
alcatraz looks pretty interesting.
everyone's going to think you jumped into the tent for that shot, it's that good!
also, it's harder to correct your typos from 100 miles away... =[
i'm glad you made the full house comment because that's exactly what i was thinking... everywhere you look...
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