San Francisco: Day One

Grandmas Gone Wild:Part Two arrived in San Francisco around noon on Thursday. Our driver met us at the baggage check. Bless his heart, look at all that luggage! He even carried it all up a flight of steps when we arrived at our house.

As is our tradition, we made a toast to friendship as we enjoyed the sights of San Francisco out our windows.
We took a little time refreshing ourselves from the flight and unpacking before eating lunch at the Nob Hill Cafe down the street. We then headed toward Pier 33 to catch the ferry for our evening tour of Alcatraz. What a beautiful place. It was hard to believe that it was once a high security prison while looking at it from across the bay. See...
If you are ever in the Bay area, I highly recommend the Alcatraz Night Tour. The price includes the audio "Doing Time"...where you are guided through the prison by the voices of both former inmates and former guards. For the night tour, your boat is the only one on the island. It has an eerie feeling at times. Especially when you hear the sound of the doors clanging closed!

This is my favorite picture of the landscape on Alcatraz island.

That is the remains of the warden's house behind the lighthouse.

Look at these tiny cells. I cannot even imagine being locked in there for longer than a minute! Pictures can be deceiving...but basically behind this twin mattress is the small toilet. The sink is beside that with a small seat and table in front of the sink. I believe the cell is 5' wide and 9' deep.

Here is a picture of me and the girls in front of the prison with San Francisco in the background. Yes, those are our headphones around our necks!
These signs hang in various places around the island warning everyone to keep away.
Alcatraz was by far my favorite of the weekend. All you had to do was to look at my souvenir suitcase to know that. I filled it with coffee cups, t-shirts and more. I brought home several signs with the Alcatraz regulations on them to hang by the kids bathroom. My favorite is Regulation #5: "You are entitled to food, clothing, shelter and medical attention. Anything else that you get is a privilege." Too funny!

The ride back to Pier 33 was beautiful with the lights of San Francisco shining before us.

We walked down to Pier 39: Fisherman's Wharf for more shopping and dinner. We enjoyed one of the best crab dinners I have ever eaten at The Crab House. Look at this Crab Feast for four!

Does this not look amazing? I couldn't help but think of William the whole time we were eating. He loves crab and he would have been in heaven for this!

After dinner, we caught a taxi back to the house. Our driver was from Malta. I don't think I have ever met anyone from Malta before. After a few minutes unwinding together, it was off to bed and a good night's sleep because we had another tour scheduled for the next morning!