San Francisco Weekend- Day 2 (part 1)

3:00pm- “Gentlemen, welcome to The Rock!” Woke up at 7am so that we could head out at 8:30 to reach our destination of the early-bird Alcatraz tour (9:30). We found that our hotel has short shower heads, a small shower and a very small continental breakfast. Muffins and bread for toast, juice and coffee were the options. So Rachel and I went next door to the coffee shop and enjoyed breakfast sandwiches.

We took a quick walk down the street to one of the trolley-car depots in town that would take us down to Fisherman’s Wharf. As we turned on Powell St, we saw bleachers set up and signs for the Chinese New Year parade. I thought that usually happened in February, but apparently the first weekend of March is it this year. We discover that the trolley just down the street from the hotel is shutting down at from 3-9:30pm. So apparently we don’t take that trolley back to the hotel if we need to get back between then.

The trolley ride is, of course, one of the things everyone must do when in San Fran. It’s one of those things that are famous. And this trolley ride took us right beside the famous Lombard Street. Presque Isle, Maine has its own Lombard Street. It’s a steep street on the northeast side of town. But it’s not curvy. And not THAT steep. Until I was in high school, I didn’t realize that street got its name from the famous one in SF. And, I think my earliest recollection of Lombard here is seeing it in the original Tony Hawk’s pro skater- and if you can get going fast enough, you can get a sweet combo for just jumping all the way down Lombard.

Back to Lombard in real life, it’s early in the morning, so nobody’s trying their luck getting down the street. If anyone wants to, this is likely the only chance you’ll get to try the street without a dozen cars in front of and behind you, thus keeping you from moving down the street very well.

I thought the trolley would let us off a little closer to Fisherman’s Wharf as it had that name right on the trolley. But it was a little hike for us to get to pier 43. But we were looking for Pier 33. It’s already 9:10 and we’ve got another good hike to the pier. I was walking fast- a good dozen strides ahead of the rest of them. I was reminded of being in Boy Scouts and how my step-father and one of the other scout leaders were fast hikers and walkers. It’s not that we couldn’t keep up with them, we just didn’t because we weren’t fast walkers as they are.

5 minutes before we needed to be there, Rachel asked what time it was and the answer made us hurry up. Reaching into her purse for our pre-paid, pre-printed tickets, we almost ran in order to get to the Alcatraz ferry. It’s 9:29- an easy 30 seconds to spare. No worries! Feeling fortunate to have even pre-printed the tickets so we didn’t have to stop at the window, we moved to the lower level, front of the boat and enjoyed the cool breezes coming off the bay.

Alcatraz is one of the coolest things you could possibly do in San Francisco. There are lots of “tours” that will take you by the island and let you see it, but only one ferry that will take you to the island (which is a national park) and let you walk around. It’s a lot of sloped roadways and stuff to get up to the prison and to different areas of the island (surprise, surprise- sloped roads in San Francisco). They have a decent video that has been produced by Discovery Channel for people to view.

No, they don’t actually show “The Rock”, but they do let you go into and through the prison block. It’s not like in “So I Married an Axe Murderer” where the Rangers escort all the tours (and certainly not having Phil Hartman referring to “Machine Gun” Kelly)- they now have audio tours (reminiscent of the audio tours at the famous castles I saw in Scotland) that will take you through the prison. It was very thorough and really cool. The Rangers do offer alternative types of… well, for lack of a better term, classes. More specialized types of tours of Alcatraz- stuff like “escape from Alcatraz” and things like that.

Anyway, after having had our fill of the whole island, prison and more, we got on the 12:15 ferry back to the “mainland”. As we got back to pier, we headed back to Pier 39, one of the more loaded piers with stuff at Fisherman’s Wharf, for a quick bite. We decided it that we would walk around and enjoy some of this stuff there while we were there. Just as we got back, Rachel had called her friend who lives in SF and made plans to meet her at Pier 39 this evening. And we’re planning on going there for dinner, as well.

There were lots of fun stores to look in and see cool stuff. I was totally taken by this one store Rachel and I went into- Field of Dreams. It’s got some amazing sports memorabilia- signed photos, framed photos, signed baseballs, and lots of other fun stuff. On the way in the door, I notice this large picture of the World Series Champion 2004 Boston Red Sox- signed. I figure, it’s gotta be just a copy or something, because, after all, the price tag only says $51.99. We look around- they’ve got signed Ted Williams stuff, non-signed less expensive stuff, but finally, at the prodding of the salesman, I’ve gotten the ok and decide to spend $52 bucks on something for my office wall. Well, just as we’re getting it to the check-out, Rachel notices that there’s no decimal in the price we had seen. That’s right, $5200. Oops- that’s just a small error on our part- sorry, we can’t afford that.

Feeling like a complete stooge and idiot, I decide it’s time to leave so that my embarrassment can subside some. As we leave, we met back up with Dave & Kassie and decide it’s time to head back to hotel for a little afternoon down time. Rachel’s feet are sore and we’ve still got a little hike back to the trolley. But as we get back to the trolley station, there’s a HUGE line. I mean, probably a half dozen trolley cars packed full worth of people ahead of us. After standing for about 15 minutes, we decide that it doesn’t matter if we got the all day trolley pass; we’re going to get a taxi. Because it’s not worth waiting in line, and in a half hour, they’re shutting down that line of the trolley.

By now, we’re all quite warm. Sitting in the sun, no breeze cuz the harbor is a few blocks away. I’ve donned my Red Sox cap since before the pier experience. And we’re all hot, a little sweaty and feeling kinda gross now. So, we leave the trolley station in search of an empty taxi. Finally finding one, we get a nice, albeit terrifying (going up and down the steep streets in a cab) drive back to the hotel.

Rachel is almost dehydrated, having eaten very little and had even less to drink. Dave is also quite tired- ready for a break. So, we grab some of our grub and eat, and drink and try to recoup a little before dinner and then hanging out with Rachel’s YWAM friend tonight.