San Francisco-Day 2 Afternoon

Once we docked, we headed along Embarcadero past Pier 39 and Fishermen’s Wharf on our way to the only In-N-Out Burger in San Francisco. This was my first In-N-Out experience.

They were well worth the wait and the walk. The restaurant was absolutely packed so we shared a table with another patron.

We finished eating then made our way to our next adventure…biking to the Golden Gate bridge.

So, Jonathan loves biking. Me, not so much. We were told at the bike store that it was a pretty flat ride. I think that “pretty flat” for a Floridian is very different than “pretty flat” for a San Franciscan. I would just walk my bike up the hills. No shame.

One of the flatter parts of the ride…it was just head on into the wind. Jonathan just kept reminding me to think about how much easier it would be on the way back with the wind behind us.

It was gorgeous. I took lots of breaks and Jonathan kept encouraging me all the way.

It was a couple miles just to get to the bridge…and finally, we were there.

One side was open for cyclists, the other side for pedestrians.

We rode to the halfway point and took a break to take some pictures.

I don’t think I truly realized how beautiful it was up there. I was so focused on just pedaling.

Out over the Pacific

The cars

We decided to head back by bike rather than ride the rest of the way across and catch the ferry from Sausalito back since we were a little crunched for time and we weren’t sure we’d actually be able to catch the last ferry of the day. So we turned around and headed ‘down’ the bridge.

We took a wrong turn and ended up riding through the Presidio on the way back.

We rode by the National Cemetery.

And the Palace of Fine Arts

Then we met back up with the trail and rode back to the bike shop. I’m thinking the ride was around 7 or 8 miles round trip. Not terribly long, but an adventure.

By then, it was time to head back for Jonathan to get back for the start of the conference.

We decided to catch the Powell & Hyde cable car back. The line to ride was pretty long. It seemed like most people rode the cable cars for the experience. If they needed to get somewhere, they took the bus or a streetcar.

We watched them turn the car on the turntable. It’s not even automated. The gripman, the conductor, and a few other men just push the car around until it stops in line with the tracks.

We rode inside the car, but were standing. And you really had to hold on! Going up those hills and rounding the corners was quite exciting.

Looking down Lombard Street.

Lombard Street

Looking back down to the bay and Alcatraz. What a view!

There were some very steep hills in this town.

The Transamerica Pyramid

We got back to the hotel and I headed to the room and Jonathan headed to the convention center. When he got back, we headed out for dinner. We were hungry and cold and ready to eat.

We walked up to Union Square and headed to The Cheesecake Factory. It was on the eighth floor of the Macy’s building. When we got there, we were given the option of inside or outside on the heated porch. We went with first available, but should have gone with inside. While it was a bit warmer, it was still pretty chilly.

It might have been cold, but it was delicious!

We headed back to the room after dinner and again had to get showers in order to get warm. I think the wind just made it feel so much colder. Plus it had been such a full, active day. And I definitely felt it. I think it took me a few days to get my legs back to normal.

San Francisco-Day 2 Morning-Alcatraz

Before we left for San Francisco, Jonathan reserved tickets for us to visit Alcatraz. I guess that tickets can be hard to come by and when he’d checked earlier, none were available. But the day before we left he was able to get us two for the 8:45am departure on Sunday morning.

We were up early anyway since our bodies hadn’t fully adjusted to the time change, grabbed some granola bars, and caught a bus out to Pier 33. Promptly at 8:45 we were on our way over to The Rock on a ferry with a couple hundred other people.

On the ferry

Alcatraz

Once we were there, they gathered us all up just off the boat to give us a quick orientation talk. We found out that there was a Garden Tour starting at 9:30am, so we watched a bit of the video about the island then met up for the tour.

Orientation talk

This is Marnie, the guide for the Garden Tour. She was great. I think the tour was only supposed to be about 45 minutes long and it ended up being over an hour. It provided a completely different look at Alcatraz than what I had imagined. Volunteers are reconstructing the gardens based on pictures from the 1950s and 1960s. Much had just grown wild since then.

One of the reconstructed flower gardens. They have to bring all of the water over from the main land and it won’t rain again there until October they said.

The water tour was refurbished, but they recreated the graffiti from the Native American occupation of the island. I didn’t know that part of the history of Alcatraz at all.

One of the best parts of the tour was getting to go through some of the closed areas. The views were just stunning.

One of the reasons for all of the flowers was so that when the residents of San Francisco looked out across the bay and saw Alcatraz, they didn’t just see a prison, they at least saw something that was aesthetically pleasing. Some of the gardens were kept by the wives of the prison guards and some were kept by the prisoners themselves.

A view of the Golden Gate bridge

The Cell House

One of the watchtowers

The recreation yard

At the top of the stairs leading into the cell house and looking out on the recreation yard

When the Garden Tour was over, we headed inside for the cell house audio tour. The audio tour was great. It kept us moving throughout the cell house and was narrated by both former guards and inmates. It was informative but also a tad bit chilling.

Three floors of cells

Inside one of the solitary confinement cells.

The library

What one of the cells might have looked like when an inmate occupied it. Apparently some of the inmates took up oil painting and crocheting to pass the time. Bridge was also a popular time-passer.

The front of the cell house

The view of San Francisco from just outside the administration building door.

In the dining room, which was one of the most dangerous places in the prison. The kitchen is just behind the bars.

After we finished the tour, we turned in our headsets and started back down the hill. Along the side of the cell house, we saw a family of geese.

We (barely) caught the 12:25pm ferry back to San Francisco.

Coit Tower and Telegraph Hill as we were docking at Pier 33.