Golden Gate Bridge

While planning our short trip to San Fransisco I looked up online things to do.  Number one on almost every list was to drive across the Golden Gate bridge.  It was pretty and iconic but honestly just a bridge.  We drive across the Tacoma Narrows bridge all the time so no one was that excited.  We stopped and took pictures afterwards.  Sorry they aren't great, it was dark and I only had my phone.

Last time we were in California hiking through the redwood forest was one of everyones favorite things so we made sure to do that again.  I will say that I prefer the one we went to last time, but this was fun too.

We also spent time at the Fisherman's Wharf.  Bob and the kids walked around here the whole time I was on Alcatraz so they got to spend quite a bit of time here.  It reminded us of Pikes Place, but bigger and more crowded on the streets.

I took one last picture of the bridge while driving out of town.  Goodbye San Fransisco!

San Fransisco Tour

Before I post about Thanksgiving I want to finish sharing about our San Fransisco trip.    We started the morning out with a free walking tour.  They have tons of these all over the city.  I'd love to do more but we only had one day.  Even that one tour the kids thought was boring and so Bob and I were getting stressed with keeping them quiet.

After about an hour of the walking tour we went up to the top of this parking garage that had a great view.  The kids had enough though so we quietly left the tour and walked back to the car.

Our next stop was Lombard St.  I've seen it on tv and was excited to visit it.  Man, it was crowded!

We first drove down it, then parked at the bottom and walked up and down it.

There were some pretty houses along it.  Although with all the tourists I would never want to live there.

I read online that Lombard St. is not actually the steepest street.  We found the steepest street and drove down it a couple times.  It doesn't curve but goes straight down.  It was pretty steep!  Some of the kids were crying and scared the first time we went down it.  Tucker and Leon were particularly getting upset about it.  Everyone else thought it was fun.

Selfie on Lombard St.

It was so steep walking back to the car the kids felt the need to stop and do pushups.

Another thing I really wanted to see in San Fransisco were these painted ladies.  We sat and ate lunch in the field across the street.  It was a nice lunch picnic.  Leon dropped his orange though and it quickly started rolling down the hill.  Bob ran and was able to catch it just before it got to our car.  Tucker thought that he should follow suit and roll down the hill himself.

More San Fransisco to come!

Escape from Alcatraz

We went on a mini vacation to San Fransisco for a day and a half and one of the major highlights for me was touring Alcatraz.  We were late getting tickets and so there was only one time available.  Bob was so nice and watched the kids for 3 hours so I could go on the tour.  I made sure to take lots of pictures for him.  We even watched an history channel about the jail before hand so we knew more about it.

This is the view of the island as you pull up.  It is pretty small, and I think only about a mile away from San Fransisco.  The building on the top is the jail.  This was supposed to be the worst of the worst jails.  They moved prisoners to Alcatraz when they were being bad in whatever jail they were already it.  It was made and publicized to be a feared.

The crazy think is that the guards families live on the island.  The jail, school house, and play yard are all next to each other.  Families said that they were never scared and often they wouldn't even lock their doors.

I don't remember what this building is behind me but the decay is obvious.  The decay from the salt water air is one of the main things that made the only successful escape possible.

This next picture is of the showers.  I took this to mostly show my kids.  I knew they would be shocked at the lack of privacy.

In the next picture you can see three rows of cells.  The top ones were said to be the most coveted cells because of the way the sun comes in.  The cells on the bottom right were the worst, solitary confinement.  I had the chance to get locked in one of these.  It was pitch black and had nothing but a toilet.  The prisoners were given a mattress during sleeping hours only, and if they were good in their they kept the small window on the door open.  If they were bad they didn't get the mattress or clothes and had to be chained in a standing position onto the bars.

This next picture shows how inmates might have decorated their cells depending on how they spent their time.

The view was great!  That is another thing that was said to make it so hard for the inmates.  They could see everything just across the water.

Here is the control room.

Three people dug holes in their walls and were able to escape.  They used paper mache heads so people wouldn't notice.  Once they got to the water they disappeared and no one knows what happened to them.  I personally think they got away, some think they drowned.  I think they said they would be in their 90s now.

And the last picture is of a morgue.  I just thought it was pretty crazy that they had their own small morgue.

Even visiting it and learning about it I don't think anyone do didn't experience it can really know what it felt like to be imprisoned there.  I'm glad I got to see it though.