Ellen & Scott rented a mini-van so we all could fit in one car. Ellen drove it into San Francisco to the parking lot at Pier 39. We walked around for a while looking at all the shops and eateries until we settled on eating at Wipe Out Restaurant. We had to eat fast in order to make it to pier 33 for our Alcatraz tour. Our boat was scheduled to take off at 1:20 and would load from 12:50 to 1:10.
The weather was really cold, so we had to wear our winter jackets. I contemplated putting my mittens on, too, but I didn't, even though my fingers were really cold. The water was choppy, with white caps.
We arrived at Alcatraz Island and started our tour with a speech from a ranger. This is a national landmark, so they have park rangers working there. Then we climbed up, up, up (or should I say trudged) to the cell block. There we got our automated tour gear and started off to find out about Alcatraz. It was a wonderful automated guided tour. It told you where to look, where to stop, when to read a wall poster, and best of all, it was narrated by both former guards and former inmates at Alcatraz. It came complete with sound effects, so when the story was about the inmates turning over the tables in the dining room, because the spaghetti was lousy, the sounds went along with the story.
After the cell block tour, we went to the theater to watch a movie about the history of Alcatraz. By then it was time to board the boat heading back to San Francisco. When we got back to Pier 39, we had hot chocolate, coffee, or tea (me). Scott & Ellen had a fellowship dinner to attend in the city, so they dropped the rest of us off at the train station, and we took the 5:56 train back to the California Avenue stop, just outside their condo.
Except for the weather, we had a wonderful day, full of fun and adventure.
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