Day 3 - San Francisco - Part 1 - Alcatraz

This trip is going to go on forever.

This is what this side of San Francisco looks like from Alcatraz.  I had no idea that the streets were so straight. Hilly, but straight. 

This was Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bridge day.  We spent the morning in bed watching some movie on TV...what was it Will?  Maybe something with Harrison Ford in it, I think...or Bruce Willis...I can't remember.  I couldn't blow my hair dry because it would be too hot (no air conditioning @ the Chancellor...fancy as the name sounds) and I couldn't open the window or Will wouldn't be able to hear the TV with all the street noise from outside...so we watched a movie that apparently made no mark on my memory!

Then, we ended up having to RUN to make it to our Alcatraz tour time.  I schedule our tour in advance, thanks to my friend Jane, who warned me that the tours sell out fast, and if you miss your tour...you're out of luck.  Somehow it seemed that e-v-e-r-y tourist wanted to ride the trolley that day.  They were packed.  Will even suggested taking a cab, but I'm too cheap to pay for it.  We ran.  Then only to be stuck at the front of the "express" line with only 6 minutes before the gate closed, behind two men who spoke absolutely no English and didn't understand what the English speaking lady was saying.  I could literally hear every second tick by. 

In very slow motion!!

Minutes to spare and the rest of the day was a breeze.  Literally and figuratively!  Is it always THAT windy there in SF?

Will was so excited to go to Alcatraz.  The normal amount of time spent there to go through the tour is about 2.5 hours.  We were there almost 4, I think!  Very neat and I'm so glad we took the time to go there.  I think our kids would have really liked to see it too.  Will and I discussed taking our kids to San Fran.  I vetoed the idea.  A mom can only take so much complaining on every vacation and I think our kids would have found plenty to complain about.  As much as I love them...they're spoiled!

The history to this place was very interesting, although I was more interested in taking pictures sometimes.  

I saw this window and knew exactly why I wanted to take a picture of it.  This is how I'm going to "fix" my girls' windows if they EVER sneak out!!!  And this would look like the easy window to escape from.  The window Will would "fix" might not show any daylight through it!

Think twice about it, girls!

We learned a lot about Alcatraz and what it's been used for over the years.  They have a great way of leading herds and hoards of people through the building.  It's funny to see everyone walking around staring up at the ceiling or into a cell, taking pictures of the floor, the walls, the bars, a key, skeletons of buildings, all of the exact same things...wearing our ear phones.

We were warned that there might be baby birds...because I can't remember what baby seagulls are called...along the paths around the island, and not to touch them...they would find their way back to the nest.  We found one, not on the path, and instinctively I took a picture of it to show the kids.  I took pictures of everything to show the kids and all I really needed was a picture of this cute baby bird.

They oooooh-ed and aaaahhhh-d and thought it was cute and so the most important and fascinating picture I took this entire day was of baby bird.

And three final pictures, because I didn't take 423 pictures of San Francisco to only show 5 on my blog!

That's just half the day, too.