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Today we went to Alcatraz – a very cool trip!

We took the ferry from a town up near Petaluma (I don’t remember the name and I’m doing this on my flight home so I don’t have an internet connection). The ferry went out past San Quentin (hmm – do you see a pattern here?), past Angel Island, Alcatraz and then in to Pier 1 at San Francisco. Then you have to take a street car (unfortunately not a cable car) up the Embarcadero to Pier 41 to catch the ferry back to Alcatraz.

Alcatraz is apparently a huge tourist attraction – the ferries were running every half hour and they tended to be completely full. If you are ever in San Francisco, however, I would certainly recommend the trip – and be sure to get the audio tour – highly recommended.

Leaving the ferry terminal

Here we are leaving the ferry terminal. The ferry ride was about 30 minutes long and actually quite smooth. It wasn’t really that cold either, even though we were on the top sundeck and moving along at a good speed.

San Quentin

The first thing you pass after leaving the ferry terminal is San Quentin State Prison – and you really aren’t that far away. In fact, you can see the prisoners out in the exercise yard – very strange.

This is the main building – but there are a lot of other ones stretched out along the coastline. Teri tells me that this is a prime piece of real estate (the view is incredible and it’s nicely placed on the transportation routes) and there have been discussions about converting it to a resort or some sort of housing development. I’m personally kind of surprised this hasn’t happened sooner.

Angel Island

A slightly fuzzy picture of Angel Island. This is actually a pretty large island – a couple of miles long I would suspect. It has (or at least had) a military installation on it. You can just see some of the buildings in the lower-right corner of the picture.

Interestingly, when Alcatraz was a military installation any soldiers that died there were buried at Angel Island, not Alcatraz. I have no idea why that bit of trivia stuck with me…

Alcatraz Island

Another slightly fuzzy shot – this time of Alcatraz island with the Golden Gate bridge in the background (you just thought you weren’t getting any more bridge photos). Sorry about the “fuzzy” bit – but it was just a bit foggy for the whole morning.

Approaching Alcatraz

As you approach the dock at Alcatraz you see this sign. This is a pretty large structure – the word “Warning” is about 3 feet high!

Arriving at Alcatraz

This is what you see as you get off the ferry at Alcatraz – nice and prisony looking as you would expect. Add a few grouchy guards and it would be downright intimidating.

Guard Quarters

More of what you see as you get off the ferry. I believe this building was the guard quarters – for guards with families. Talk about a bad neighborhood…

The Courtyard

Another shot of the courtyard you enter as you get off the ferry. The “Indians Welcome” graffiti behind the sign is leftover from when some local indians occupied the island – and laid claim to it. I’m not sure when this happened (damn the lack of an internet connection at 37,000 feet) but I think it was fairly recently.

Spot the Pelican

Can you find the pelican in this picture? I noticed him while we were listening to our “orientation” talk (basically, be careful – this place is dangerous). He didn’t move once!

Ruined Building

This is the outside of one of the many ruined buildings on the island. This one actually burned (there are a couple of charred beams sticking out of the wall inside) but some of the others look like they were dozed.

I think this was some sort of guard’s quarters.

Ruined Building – Inside

Here’s an inside shot. I think this looks pretty cool for some reason.

Ruined Building – Another inside shot

Here’s another inside shot. I liked how the chimney stuck up – and the fireplace (just below the middle of the picture) being closed off made it seem a lot “colder.”

Water Tower

Half way up the hill to the cell block is a level place with a number of interesting structures. Here we have a very artistically rusted water tower. In fact, pretty much everything metal on the island is rusted.

Power House Smokestack

We also have the powerhouse with it’s smokestack. Note how most of the ladder up the side is gone.

Another building

Just over the top of the hill from the powerhouse is this structure. I have no idea what it is – and this part of the island was closed off. However, it doesn’t look to be in very good repair…

Honk, Honk

As we started back down the hill from the powerhouse I noticed this sign.

Guard Tower

How would you like your commute to work to involved climbing this guard tower – in a storm in the dead of winter!

The top of Alcatraz

This is a shot of the cell block, the lighthouse (still working) and the remains of the warden’s house (a bit drafty).

The area at the bottom of the hill is used by gulls for nesting and will be closed off to the public in early February – so we got lucky!

Warden’s House

This is another shot of the Warden’s house and the lighthouse. I’m actually kind of proud of this one.

Inside the cell blox

And now the moment you have all been waiting for – the inside of the cell block! This is a shot of one of the passages between the rows of cells. There were 3 or 4 passages, each with a name – I think this is called “Midtown.”

A Typical Cell

This is the inside of a “typical” cell – pretty small isn’t it? This reminds me why I went into something nice and honest like software sales instead of sticking with real estate

The Cell Block

A better look at the cell block. This shot was taken from the barber shop.

Jim tries out a cell

Here I am trying out one of the cells. No cracks from any of you about how I fit right in – please remember that I have never been formally arrested for anything!

Teri trying out a cell

Aunt Teri trying out the same cell. Notice how she just naturally grabbed the bars and stared out?

Cafeteria

This is the inmate cafeteria. Looks a lot like a high school cafeteria to me.

Solitary Confinement

This is the solitary confinement wing where the “troublemakers” were kept. There were the usual three tiers of cells (not nearly as nice as the main block) plus a number of “holes” – cells that could be completely darkened. This was not a nice place to be, although a number of inmates spent years here.

Hole #9

A closer look at hole #9. Such a fun place!

The Birdman’s Cell

This is the cell that The Birdman of Alcatraz spent 6 years in. Apparently he was a bit put out that he didn’t get to bring along his birds – so he wasn’t a model citizen.

The Prison Library

Not much of a library if you ask me – cold, drafty and very few bookshelves. The size is about right, though

Prison escape attempts

Ever wonder what happens when somebody sets of a grenade on a concrete floor? (ok, knowing this audience only a few of you have wondered that). Anyway, during one of the escape attempts a number of prisoners were holed up in this crossover (hallway between blocks of cells) and the guards dropped some grades down on them. If you look closely you will see the scratches on the floor from the shrapnel plus some patched holes.

Prison escape attempts

Here’s a shot of the ceiling above where the grenades went off. You can see some patches along the left edge – that’s where the guards made holes to drop the grenades.

Oh – and the prisoners didn’t make it, either.

The Great Escape

Here is the cell of one of the prisoners that participated in one of the most famous escapes from Alcatraz (you’ve seen the movie plus the Discovery Channel documetaries I’m sure).

Another escapee’s cell

Here is another cell – you can clearly see the hole at the back right at floor level.

Utility Corridor

This is a shot of the utility corridor between rows of cells. In the escape mentioned above the inmates dug through the backs of their cells to get into this corridor. From there, they climbed up to the top of the cell block and then out onto the roof.

Utility Corridor again

Another shot of the utility corridor – this time looking up. This doesn’t really add any more detail, but it looks cool – or at least I think it does.

Escapee’s Cells

More shots of the cells of the infamous escapees…

Exercise Yard

This is the exit to the exercise yard. Since this is on the northwest corner of the island it just has to be cold in the winter! The view, however, is spectacular.

Exercise Yard

Here is a shot looking back from the far corner of the exercise yard. Not very big, but not too small either, especially considering that Alcatraz never held more than 200 prisoners.

View from below the exercise yard

This is the view from just below the exercise yard – pretty spectacular, no?

Oh – and you get the bird in the picture for free! Lesson #5 of photography: Taking pictures in areas frequented by gulls is a real pain in the ass – for a number of reasons!

Lighthouse

Here’s a nice, artsy shot of the lighthouse. Aren’t you impressed?

Leaving Alcatraz

And here’s the last photo – departing Alcatraz on the ferry.

Hope you enjoyed them!

Jim

Today we went to the Marin Headlands (where the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge is attached) and then over to Berkely and Orinda (where Mom and Aunt Teri grew up). I took a whole bunch of pictures (over 200) but I’ll only inflict a few on you – so hang in there…

More Cops!

Just to start things off right, here is another shot of the police. These were federal park police, so I tried to be unobtrusive about my photography – that’s my explanation for this god-awful picture and I’m sticking to it!

This was taken in the parking lot of Battery Spencer, which has one of the better views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Alcatraz in the distance

One of the first places you can stop after you come off of 101 is an old gun batter just to the northwest of the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge. This has a truly spectacular view of both the bridge and the whole bay. Unfortunately, it was a bit hazy, but you should be able to see some things.

This shot is of Alcatraz island in the distance and some sailboats out on the bay.

Jim in front of the Golden Gate Bridge

If you climb up to the top of Battery Spencer and then crawl through a hole in the fence (I just had to break the rules) you get to a spot where you can take a really good shot of somebody in front of the bridge. So, we did…

Ditto – Aunt Teri

I think Teri is looking a bit cold here.

The Golden Gate Bridge

If you take enough pictures you eventually get a good shot of something. I took about 20 shots of the bridge (40 if you count the next day) and this is one of the best. I especially like the effect of the shadow on the water below the bridge – very cool!

If you click on the photo you’ll get the extra large version.

The other direction…

Looking off in the other direction from the bridge – out to the Northwest and the Pacific Ocean.

Golden Gate Bridge again

Another photo of the bridge – the size shows a bit better here.

Point Beacon

Looking back the other direction – almost due West. This is point beacon and you can just see a bit of the lighthouse (a small white dot) on the left edge of the picture. I don’t think I would want to be out there when a storm came through.

More Cops!

As we were driving further along toward Point Beacon I notice the cops were behind us again (coincidence? maybe not…). I just love having a camer a with a viewscreen that you can swing out and turn around – it allows you to get shots like this without being totally obtrusive.

By the way, that’s Shadow in the middle of the picture – doesn’t he look about half stoned right now?

Be very, very careful

We stopped to let the cops go by (they made all of us nervous) and I noticed two very strange signs. Actually, they both made perfect sense – it’s just that the context was a bit off.

The first sign warns of cliffs and surf (and it wasn’t kidding).

Unnamed Photo

And the second sign warns you not to hike (ok – that makes sense), bike (that would be very extreme mountain biking) or ride horses (what? who the hell would even think of riding a horse here?).

The worst thing is that signs usually are only put up if there has been an issue – meaning that some damn fool actually tried to ride a horse here. Idiots!

Cool Shot

Another cool shot looking south across the Golden Gate. I like the way the sun shines on the water here.

Oh – and the tide was going out, if you care…

Last Bridge Photo

And here’s the last photo of the Golden Gate Bridge for the day. I really like how this turned out.

Wave photo #8 of 932,523,887.3

I took a lot of photos of waves at the beach at Marin Headlands – but I won’t inflict them on you. This one sums them all up pretty well anyway – waves crashing over the beach plus a bonus bird in flight.

If you really want the full collection let me know and I’ll send them to you.

Oh – and click on the picture for a larger version.

Whoops – another Wave Picture

Sorry – just found another cool one – so you get two!

Shadow on the Beach #1

A beach is a great place to play ball with a dog – unless you have a persnickety dog that doesn’t want to pick up a sand covered tennis ball.

Shadow really likes to chase tennis balls – and he normally jumps quite high to grab them. This time, however, he was a bit picky about his jumping surface so I had a really hard time catching him in the air. I did get a couple of shots, however…

Shadow on the Beach #2

This is a better shot – I have no idea what he is trying to do here. He didn’t land on his nose, however.

Leaving Marin Headlands

The exit from Marin Headlands goes through a tunnel – a one-lane tunnel. Sensibly, there is a stoplight on either end controlling the flow of traffic. So here we sit at the stoplight. Notice the tiny red sign under the second light?

Leaving Marin Headlands

That’s right – you always suspected lights lasted this long, but now you have proof! If you can’t see it, the sign says “5 Minute Red Light”.

Wow, dude!

You just have to take a picture when you go through a tunnel!

Next stop, San Qentin Prison…

Back gate of San Quentin

Ok – taking pictures of cop cars isn’t enough (yes, John, I like to live on the edge) so we also decided to get a shot of the gate of a prison. And not just any prison – it has to be San Qentin!

This is actually the back gate – the visitor’s entrance. Sorry about the picture quality, but we didn’t exactly stick around to get a good shot.

Next stop, Berkely!

A great old lunch spot

We stopped for lunch at Brennan’s – one of Aunt Teri’s hangouts when she was at Berkely in the 70’s. In fact, Brennan’s has been around since about 1959 or something like that.

Good home cooking – think Po Melvin’s.

Next door to Brennans…

Just next door to Brennans (and visible from I80) is Takara Sake USA – complete with a “Sake Tasting Room and Museum”. Hmm…

Just for John

Just for you, John, a picture of Volvo of Berkely. Note that there are no Volvos present at Volvo of Berkely.

Golden Gate Live Steamers

Next stop was an old miniature live steam railway up in the hills above Berkely. Teri remembers going there with her father (my Grandpa Bud) as a kid – whenever they could talk him in to going there. It was very cool to go to the same place – but sad that I never got to go with Grandpa…

This first shot is the train coming in to the “station.” Note the little boy on the right – he’s extremely excited and is jumping up and down. He was just thrilled to death by the whole miniature train thing.

Getting the engine ready

Teri and I made damn sure we got the front seat in the train. Here, the engineer is getting the engine ready. You probably can’t see it, but the engine is currently at about 150psi and 300f. Yes, this is a real steam engine – very cool!

Riding the train

I have about 20 shots of the train ride (all 12 minutes of it) but they pretty much tend to be just like this. So, you get the most “interesting” one – complete with steam from the whistle.

Steam Train

You do get a few shots of the train in the station. This first one gives you some idea of the scale – the engine is about 8 feet long, 4 1/2 feet high at the smokestack and probably weighs a few tons. I asked about how much it could pull and was told that they didn’t have enough cars to find out – although the train that they were running had 10 cars holding 50-70 people! The engine sure didn’t have any difficulty taking off – something the engineer managed do extremely smoothly, I might add.

Train Photos

Here the engineer is adding something to the water (probably to keep down the formation of scale).

Interesting bit of trivia – did you know that it is actually water and not fuel that limits the range of a steam train? One of the main reasons for switching over to diesel-electric was so that the trains wouldn’t have to stop every 100 or so miles for water.

Now, aren’t you glad you know that?

Train Photos

A closer look at the back of the engine.

At Last…

And, finally, here’s the caboose (sorry – couldn’t resist that one). What was really cool was that the inside of the caboose had also been done – it was just really hard to get a picture.

How many of you remember when the trains still used cabooses – and when you could wave to the man in the caboose as it went by and he would wave back? When did those go away – sometime around 1982?

Last Train Photo

I swear this is the last photo. This is a little engine that was used to run the work train. It’s not steam, but built out of an old automotive drivetrain. I suspect that it could be out of an old Austin – the engine was too small to be a Model T or A.

Hey Mom – Does this look familiar?

This is the stable that Mom and Aunt Teri kept their horse in. Teri said it looked pretty similar, although they had added the large building in the background on the right.

I suspect this was a plot to keep Mom and Teri worn out – they tended to talk to the stable and it’s about 1 1/2 miles down (or up) a fairly steep hill depending on the direction they were going.

Here’s another one, Mom

Here’s another shot – look familiar?

This is the high school that Mom and Teri went to. Considerably more picturesque that the ugly brick pile I attended. I suspect the teachers could handle multi-syllable words, too.

Miramonte High School take 2

Here’s another shot.

Well, that’s it for the day – we took a less than picturesque (but much quicker) route back to Healdsburg, so I’ll spare you the shots. Oh, and I was also on the phone with Tina for most of the drive so I really couldn’t take pictures anyway (You can complain to her if you think you got ripped off )