nobody says "the rock" like sean connery

our first stop once we hit san fran was the rock: alcatraz. we woke up early to take the public transit- there is NO WAY we were going to find parking for all our vans down at the pier.

thus, violet rode her first train. (get ready to see that bib on her the rest of the trip. this baby loves her slobber.)

i am pretty sure she was the only baby on the entire transit system... i didn't see any kids! i feared the child-haters would be bugged with my little angel if she was fussy- but really, she was fine as long as the trains kept in motion. just when i thought we would make it the whole way without incident, we got stuck in a tunnel for 45 minutes. awesome. moments like this, i have a couple of options: let her wail it out while we all make raspberry noises and funny faces in an effort to calm her down... or... feed her. i figure all those child-haters would rather me discretely breastfeed than hear a baby wailing relentlessly while they are stuck in a tunnel. i truly wish people weren't so weird and uptight about something as natural as breastfeeding (but this is a topic for another day).

since the train we were on was separate from the rest of the group, we feared we wouldn't find them once we finally got out of the tunnel. luckily, our group is pretty easy to spot.


one thing is for sure- we weren't prepared for the cold san francisco had to offer. it was in the upper 50s, folks. that is freezing for july. anyway, we bundled up tight and rode the ferry over to the rock.


i have always wanted to tour a prison. they fascinate me for many reasons- chief among them, i am so intrigued by people who do horrific things. they scare the wits out of me. so, to see a place where the worst of the worst were locked up just gave me the tingles.

i actually loved the whole thing. there were so many cool buildings around- some functional and some not-so-functional anymore...

there was wildlife everywhere and such amazing plant life...

and the audio tour was actually really good. i have always thought audio tours were impersonal and gernerally boring. this tour, however, had the real alcatraz inmates talking about experiences and the the main voice was that of an old guard. those tingles i spoke of earlier just kept coming...

here is cade in one of the cells. i think cade's favorite part of the tour was making everything seem creepier than it actually was. it was wigging me out. this explains why his hood is on and his head is bowed. creepier, right?

the stories were fun to hear and i loved the overall feel of the place. this little island has SO much history. my favorite thing to think about is whether or not these dudes are still alive somewhere:

i saw the mythbusters about these guys and they said it is possible they are still alive. i think they are out there... somewhere... but where!? (TINGLES!)

we love you, alcatraz.