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San Francisco, California
All Photos © Tim N. Touchton
Each photograph
is available as an 8x10 for a cost of $ 12.00
plus $2.00 shipping. Check or money order only please.
I took the first and third photographs on Monday June 19 and the middle photograph
on
Wednesday June 21, 2000. We were in the San Francisco area to see my older
two son's
rock band, xbxrx, play shows while on their west coast tour. On Monday June
19 we took
the Bay Cruise which left from Pier 39 at Fisherman's Wharf. The cruise took
us around
Alcatraz (thus picture 1 and 3), under the Golden Gate Bridge and by Fort
Point and along
the Presidio. It was a fantastic cruise and took about 60 minutes or so. It
was very cold and
we were dressed in our Mobile southern attire, but I did have a second shirt
in my back pack
which I gave to Rich because he had on shorts and a tee shirt. It was pretty
foggy this day too
which made for poor photo opportunities. I had some problems with the Bay
Cruise girl working
the ticket booth. You have to order the Bay Cruise tickets, and the Alcatraz
tour tickets, separately
and several days in advance because both book up very quickly. When I ordered
the cruise tickets
I was told the time I wanted, but when I went to board the boat the time they
had for me was earlier,
which we missed. Boy was I mad because I told them the time and they repeated
the time and then
gave me tickets with a different time. This was, most likely, a once in a
lifetime opportunity for my
son and me so I headed to the girl at the ticket window. She gave me a hard
time and was basically
pretty rude to me, so I asked for her manager. After a short conversation,
we were allowed to
board the cruise ship. Off to the right side of our ship was where they have
put platforms along
Pier 39 for the sea lions to bask in the sun. It was great and a lot of fun.
We stayed on the bow
of the boat and at times we could not even hear the narration due to the strong
winds. We also
had a nice view of the Oakland (Bay) Bridge and learned some interesting facts
about it. We
learned that the center concrete brace for the Bay Bridge is more massive
than the Great
Pyramid and has more concrete used in it than the Empire State Building. The
San Francisco
skyline was simply beautiful from our vantage point on the ship.
After the cruise we explored the Fisherman's Wharf area. Wow, we could spend
weeks
in this area of San Francisco alone. We also toured Pier 39 shops and specialty
stores
and it was great. I recommend a visit to Pier 39 if you ever are in San Francisco.
We ate
at a restaurant there (very expensive) but I decided to splurge while at Fisherman's
Wharf.
The restaurant we went to was really good and we had a window view of the
sea lions below.
I ordered, of course, the Seafood Platter so I'd get a taste of everything.
Rich ordered a chicken
sandwich. I also ordered a large plate of Calimori and we both ate it up.
It was very good.
As we left Pier 39 we walked along the wharf area and it was busy with people.
We saw
the "world famous" Goldie (a guy totally covered in the color gold),
the Platinum Man (yep
you guessed it) and a steel drum band with people dancing to the music. It
was really fun.
On Wednesday June 21 we were back in San Francisco to see xbxrx play at Kimo's
but until the late night show we were back at the Fisherman's Wharf and Alcatraz.
This
time we knew how cold it could get so we stopped in several shops along the
wharf for
wind breakers, lined wind breakers. We made it to our boat just in time for
the ride to
Alcatraz Island. The ride over to the old prison was fantastic. We were there
for several
hours, until the security guards came for us and told us we had to leave because
the last
boat was leaving. I could have spent an entire day on the island.
Unfortunately for us the birds were nesting while we were there and about
half of the
grounds were off limits. Otherwise I could have taken a really nice photograph
of the
lighthouse from down below in the courtyard. Just my luck though. Anyway the
tour
was great. We got cassette tapes guided tours (Richard decided to take the
Spanish
tapes, ha) and went at our own pace. I take this type of visit very slowly
in order to
allow everything to sink in. I also have a tendency to look at things and
"think" about
them, what it was like "at that time" and things like that. When
we went out to the old
prison exercise yard, I had visions of the Clint Eastwood movie, "Escape
From Alcatraz".
The wind was almost gale force in the yard and I could imagine how miserable
it must have
been going outside on days like this. A cold, damp wintery day would have
been simply terrible,
and we were there in late June. Inside the prison you could hear the seagulls
outside and I can
imagine the prisoners listening to the birds and thinking about freedom from
inside those cold
miserable walls.
Information about the Alcatraz Lighthouse:
This was the first lighthouse on the Pacific coast.
Alcatraz Island was named for the pelicans that inhabited the island, called
alcatraces in Spanish.
It is located in the middle of the shipping channel in San Francisco Bay.
The first lighthouse on the
island was the Alcatraz Light, a Cape Cod styled cottage with a short tower.
It was established in
in 1854 and equipped with a Third-Order Fresnel lens. This small lighthouse
was the only structure
on the island for many years, but was damaged by the 1906 earthquake. It was
rebuilt in 1909 when
the prison was built. The original lighthouse was replaced with the present
84 foot tall concrete tower
that was built next to the cell house. The light was automated in 1962. The
island is now part of the
Golden Gate National Recreation area.
I'll add a link to this site with my Alcatraz photographs and some interesting
information about
the island's history soon. Please come back again.
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