San Francisco number 2 of 3

Here's Alcatraz - The Rock. It is very intimidating. On the way there I couldn't help but to wonder what it was like to be on a prison boat bound for the prison. It was a cold looking place.
Here we are approaching the dock at Accatraz.
Kim looks at home here, but I feel out of place.
This is a view of San Francisco from the yard at Alcatraz. The prisoners said it was difficult having freedom so close that they could hear voices at night when the wind was right. People were laughing and having a good time and they were in prison.
This is Darwin Coon. He wrote a book on Alcatraz and his imprisonment there. I read it the day we got back to the RV and Kim read it the next day.

Thurs 11.8.07
San Francisco and Alcatraz

We started off the day with a trip to Alcatraz. Alcatraz started off as a fort when the government thought it was a good defense point for the San Francisco harbor. Alcatraz is an island that is one and a quarter mile from the San Francisco shore. It was never needed or used to defend the harbor. The military then decided to make it a military prison. They had prisoners build the prison over a two year period and then they became the first inmates. Later it became Alcatraz Federal Prison. They have a self guided tour in which they give you a small player and headsets and you go through at your own pace. Once on the island, you can leave whenever you want. The ferries run every half hour all day. There was an Alcatraz ex-inmate there who had written a book about his experience there and we purchased a copy and had him sign it.

From the dock area we took a bicycle transport (with a driver and a bench seat for us) one and a half mile to China Town (most all uphill). It was a very good investment to travel like this. It was kind of crazy in that since he does this every day, he would stop in front of a bunch of traffic that had a red light and sit there and show us things. He was very informative and it is a method of transport you should try sometime. He suggested a good restaurant (Hunan Homes) and Kim and I ate lunch there. It was interesting. The bike guide told us to walk around the block as it was the area where the Chinese shop for their supplies. He also said there is no really good Chinese food in San Francisco. He said if the Chinese want good Chinese food, they go to grandma’s house.

This is a walking city, but you still need to try all the forms of public transportation. As we walked we have climbed some big hills. The most aggressive street is 31.5%. That is steep! After just a block of that it makes us huff and puff. The people here are generally nice. The city has a good attitude about it for the most part. Locals are very helpful with directions and information. The Cable Car operators are somewhat grumpy and short tempered, but I sense it is more of a persona they want to give off than how they really are. If you don’t understand they aren’t overly helpful, but stay with it and they’ll warm up. Last night we were on a cable car and the operator seemed short with people. When we got off at the last stop, I stood about 20 feet away and waited for him to look at me. When he did I smiled and saluted him. He smiled and gave me a friendly wave. It seemed as though that since he wasn’t busy, he could be friendly. It was interesting to see him react this way. The drivers stand to operate the cars and it is a lot of hard work. It seems that when we go downhill, the 6 foot long brake lever requires about 50 to 60 pounds of pull! While they are standing, they operate two large long levers that ratchet as they are pulled back and have a hand release lever on them and a foot brake – and watch for traffic signals, traffic, pedestrians, the hills and passengers getting on and off. It is a very demanding job. The Cable Cars are so unique in that they don’t care if you stand on the side platform and hang on standing up. In this day of law suits, it is a wonder they still let you do this. If the seats are filled, they even tell you that if you want to ride you must ride standing holding the rail. They even warn you when another cable car is coming in that if both cars have passengers hanging on and they aren’t tucked in close, they could hit. I’m not sure about the particulars, but there is a general courtesy that cars afford Cable Cars. There are times when the cable is not accessible under an intersection and the car has to coast across the intersection. If a car cuts off a cable car, the driver may have to stop and not make it to the next cable. A local rider said that if that happens, the people on the cable car get off and push it to the next cable. Someone in a car cut us off and that is how I found out about this. We were able to get to the cable by coasting though. The operators do a very good job of running the cars so the ride is very smooth. The cable car is a very easy place to meet people. We have met locals as well as people from Israel, Australia, Ohio, England and Pennsylvania.

I also finalized plans so we can drop off the coach for service in Mesa, AZ when we go to Goshen for Christmas Dec 15th. Hopefully it will be done when we get back on Jan 3rd. Probably the most time consuming thing is to replace some cracked tile. We are looking forward to the next month and a half. The kids are coming to San Diego over Thanksgiving, we will see my parents in AZ before Christmas, come back to Indiana to see family and friends for Christmas and then back to AZ in January to see my parents again.