(Count the number
of different vehicles we are in)
 |
| Green and Black tea |
Drove the van to CalTrain station to get on the 9:00
train. During the 90 min ride I was able
to sleep. Brian tried to sleep, but boys
kept bugging him to go to different cars.
Lee forgot the Alcatraz tickets (!!!!!) so he had to get off and run
back home to get them. He took the
bullet back up to SF and met us at the Farmers Market on Pier 1 (not Imports,
just Pier 1). We took the Muni from the Caltrain to the Farmers Market – on Pier
1…important detail you see. The market
was crowded so Seth and I split off to get something to eat. We found a place inside called Imperial Tea
Courts. We had a huge menu of hot tea to
choose from. He chose a green I chose a
black. Once it was at the table he
wanted my black so I got his green. Such
a nice mom I am. We finish our lunch at 12:43pm, on Pier 1. He had some noodles
and I had wonton soup. Delish! Sullivan had a bacon dog and Brian ate a
cheddar dog and fries.
I get a frantic call from Brian – “Where are you? We think we have to be at the boat at 1:00, but I am not sure.” Ack!!! I thought it was 1:30 we had to be on
the boat. “Where do we have to go” “Pier 39” Now that we are home we can see
that is 1.5 mile distance from Pier 1 to Pier 39. And we need to get 6 people there in 17
minutes, with throngs of July 4th tourists packing the sidewalk. Four others in our party had already seen the time
error and found a way to get up there. We walk quickly, scan for cabs HA! they
are nowhere! Brian gives me 3 tickets to
Alcatraz and boys and I start running. I
am wearing flip flops, they are Crocs and are pretty hearty but still running
in flip flops, jeans, a camera bag and
keeping an eye on one kid going left an another going right on the sidewalk. Come
on! There’s only so much a mom can
take. We pass Pier 9 then mercifully
somehow it skips to Pier 15/16, Halleluiah! Only 13 more Piers to go in, WHAT,
7 minutes. Oh for love of all that is
Holy, we’ll never make it. At approx Pier 20 a pedi cab (a guy on a bicycle pulling
a cart that holds 3 comfortably) comes driving up just then. I holler “Can you get us to Pier 39 NOW?” “ Yes!”
“How much?” “$15”. We take off.
I hear a faint “Sarah!!!!!”. Turn
around and Brian is ½ block behind…he is leaving his aunt and cousin to get a
ride with us. Me “Sir, can you fit one
more?” “Yes!”. It was cozy with me and the boys. You all know my husband right? “Sully, get on Seth’s lap” Brian squeezed in. The poor bicycle guy. He had it on the lowest gear possible. He was juking and jiving between cars and
people. We ride by Pier 33. Brian yells “hey, Isn’t this where we are
supposed to be?” Bike guy says “You are
going to Alcatraz”. “YES!!!” “This is it”.
I throw a $20 at him and we run to the boat – 2 min to spare. We find the 4 in our party who had just
gotten on. Lee asks where Donna and
Jamie are – “They are coming” Brian says, “But I have their tickets”. Brian runs to the person manning the desk and
asks to have the tickets held…but here they are running down the dock. The doors shut behind them. WHEW!
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| Morgan, Carson, Logan, Donna, Sarah, Seth, Lee(behind the post) |
Oh, and as we get
on the boat we learn we could have gotten on the next boat. Ah, but then we wouldn’t have THAT story. Do
we have pics? Sadly we don’t. Just warm memories and the feeling my lungs
were going to explode right before getting on the pedicab.
Alcatraz
 |
| Sullivan making his best prisoner face |
We settle down – tell and retell the harrowing stories
about how we just made it to the boat and cruise to The Rock. We get on the
audio tour where we where head phones and have a machine that tells us what is
happening at certain points during our walk thru the prison. We are able to play or stop depending on if
we want to read anything or not. Seth
didn’t want to read anything so he sailed thru listening to the whole audio at
one time. I started and stopped a few
times. Sully stopped at every sign and
read everything. Too many stories to
recreate here so just get a book or check it out on line. At the end of the tour we met a former inmate
who has written a book about his time in the clink. We got pics but didn’t buy the book…Seth
thought it was too expensive. So, once
we got home we went to used book store and found an Alcatraz book for a
fraction of the cost.
 |
| Umm, creepy! |
 |
| The fake head and chisled out vent where some escaped |
 |
| Ex-prisoner who wrote a book |
After getting off The Rock we went in search of the
trolley car. Lee took us on a walk, up
hills BOTH WAYS! Truly! While walking it
felt as if we were on the Bataan Death March but looking over Google Maps we covered
a shockingly low 1.5 miles. Those hills
were deceivingly long and slowed our pace dramatically. But, now we can say we
have walked the hills of SF. Along the
walk we walked up Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. (Despite what us Iowans believe, Burlington is short a few turns for being the crookedest) Besides watching all the drivers navigated
down these hair pins turns I was looking a huge hydrangeas, they were
beautiful. But of course taking a pic of
them was near impossible as it was back lit. Oh well, I have the memory.
We waited for a trolley at the top of Lombard; you know
where everyone else was waiting for it as well.
We moved on down a few stops hoping to be smarter than the average tourist. Nope, that didn’t work either. A cab was
called to pick up all 10 of us. Before it
got there a trolley came…Wahoo, but it was only going to Chinatown. Okay, so how far is that? Just a 5 minute
ride. It is usually $5 per person. The driver didn’t ask for payment and Brian didn’t
offer, so we got a free trolley ride.
Now we are separated from the 6 people who actually know SF and we are
in Chinatown trying to get to CalTrain.
We finally find a cabbie who answers questions about the hybrid and the
electric buses in town. We are now
reunited with the others and eat our
dinner at the train station. Board the
bullet and we are on our way to San Jose…do you know the way?
So how many vehicles were we in in one day?
1.
Van
2.
Caltrain (90 min)
3.
Muni
4.
Pedicab
5.
Alcatraz boat
6.
Trolley
7.
Cab
8.
Bullet CalTrain (60 min ride – with tables)
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