Alcatraz


I was lucky to spend a weekend with Kimber and Rebecca before we headed to Italy. It was Kimber's birthday so she chose San Francisco, never having been there before. Rebecca planned everything from the hotel to the restaurant reservations and our tickets to Alcatraz. Ira might have been a little jealous of those tickets.

Arriving at the dock

It was about a 15 minute ferry ride from San Francisco to the island. They travel round trip every 30-40 minutes. You have to buy a ticket for a certain time, but you can stay as long as you like and catch a ride back when you're ready.

Main hallway with 3 stories of cells

Never having been in a prison before, I'm not sure how this compares. But it did seem that the prisoners were on top of each other and the cells seemed tiny.


We followed an audio tour narrated by correctional officers and inmates. Some of the more famous inmates of Alcatraz were Alphonse "Scarface" Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly and Robert "The Birdman" Stroud.

Reenactment of 1962 escape

I found this difficult to look at, as the head fashioned by the escaped convicts with plaster and human hair was very creepy but apparently real enough looking to fool the guards. Three inmates managed to escape through holes they carved in the wall under the sink. I wonder if that's where they got the idea for Shawshank Redemption?

Alcatraz Lighthouse

Built in 1854, it was the first lighthouse built on the west coast. Attorney General Robert F Kennedy ordered the closure of Alcatraz in 1963 due to rising infrastructure costs and availability of more modern facilities to name a few reasons. It is now maintained as a tourist attraction by the National Parks Service.



This latter fact allowed Kimber to write and pass the test, then take the oath to become a Junior Park Ranger for Alcatraz Island. I didn't realize but you can become a Junior Park Ranger at every National Park and collect all the badges. Fun, right?!

By the way, I am now officially retired. So the posts will be coming a little more regularly.

A dopo!








Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 13, 2024 at 2:03 PM

    Woo hoo!! Happy retirement! 👏🏼👏🏼

    ReplyDelete

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