Alcatraz,cable cars and chinatown

Sunday, September 20th-What a glorious day it was today.  We arrived last night at my dear friend Nancy Taylor’s home last night in San Anselmo.  She and her husband Jerry have a beautiful home and two awesome sons.  They served us the best gourmet meal of grilled salmon and asparagus with baked artichokes and a wonderful rhubarb/strawberry pie with homemade dairy free coconut/almond ice cream.  Yummy!  Janae and Stefan were thrilled to have new playmates and loved being with Gianni and Nicco.

We got up early on Sunday and all eight of us went to Alcatraz.  It was quite a treat and an adventure.  We were blessed with a beautiful but rare clear, calm day in San Fran.  Jerry has a former colleague that is the number one ranger who gave us a behind the scenes private tour.  It was incredible.  Ranger John is the one who is on all the documentaries and he is quite colorful, outgoing and fun.

Alcatraz was once a birding island where Indians would steal the bird eggs.  During the Civil War, the military established a fort on the island to protect the North’s territory and interests.  Many beautiful mansions and gardens were built for the officers.  Alcatraz would eventually become a federal penitentiary for hard core criminals like Al Capone, the birdman and others.  One of the former inmates who is now 85 was visiting and spoke articulately about his time at A. and his choice to change his life around.  In the late sixties, many well-educated native American Indians camped out and held the island for 15 months in rebellion against the government not giving back lands promised in treaties.  There would eventually be a f ire that burned many of the homes and the government removed the Indian occupation.  The upside is that after this event, much land was given back to the Indians.

Ranger John took us in the boiler room where many artists have recorded album covers and videos.  We saw the old wash room and washing machine that Al Capone used.  Mark loved seeing the words on this tunnel.  Notice the direction of the eagle’s head over the door.

The highlights were getting to climb to the top of the lighthouse.  Avery special priviledge.  It was thrilling and a bit precarious feeling the wind blow so strongly while being on top of the world seeing the amazing views.  The Obama girls didn’t get this treat on their visit.  Darryl Hannah did and suffered from a vertigo attack and had to be carried down in her mini-skirt.  Interestingly the Blue Angels visited and inspite of their daredevil stunts refused to ascend to the top of the lighthouse (they said they weren’t comfortable not being in control).

Notice the head of the eagle.

The other highlight was hearing the sound of the cell doors slam shut.  It’s a sound no one can forget.  This is the sound that was recorded in Star Wars for Darth Vader and was in Indiana Jones too.

Overall, this was a very interesting place.  Flowers and birds were plenitful. 

rubble of former homes of guards, great view of San Fran

We parted directions with our friends and we set off for Chinatown via the cable car.  The cable car was a bit frustrating as everyone jammed on and Stefan and Janae didn’t get a good view.  Chinatown was very interesting and amazed that people barely spoke English.  We had a delicious duck dinner.  On the way back, we got on the wrong cable car and ended up at Ghiradelli Square.  Yummy chocolate and a beautiful view.

A surprise to our day was that there was a solar eclipse where the moon travels in front of the sun.  Won’t happen again in our lifetime.  People on the streets invited us to join in the wonder of it all and it was very special.

Spent the night again with our dear friends.