Early it was. The alarm went off at 5:15 a.m. We rolled out of bed in a grumpy sort of mood, and prepared ourselves for departure at 6:00 a.m.
Gary and Evelyn rode with us. We arrived at the parking lot of the ferry terminal and found numerous empty parking spaces. Hurray.
Note: no cash is involved in parking. One uses an ap...as in parkmobile.com. I had downloaded the ap, filled out the appropriate info such as credit card info and license plate number and state. The parking lot has a zone number. We parked, I clicked on the ap, gave the okay to charge the credit card, and it was done. It even gave me a 15-minute warning when the parking time was almost finished.
The rest of the gang walked to the ferry terminal, and we boarded the next available ferry. We arrived at the SF Port 30 minutes later.
We found a shop that had fresh-made and hot breakfast sandwiches. Then it was time to board the cable car to Pier 33. We left the ferry terminal near Pier 1--to far to walk. Whew! we made it in plenty of time. We boarded the ferry that took us to Angel Island. It was a 45 minute ride.
Angel Island is now a state park. It served as a defensive position from the Civil War through the "Cold War". It was a processing center for military returnees, as well as immigrants. If a contagious illness was present the immigrant stayed on Angel Island. Several of the buildings remain on the island. We rode a tram on an hour-long tour around the island. Our driver must have been a history teacher in a former life. He was informative and passionate about Angel Island.
These sculling teams were practicing their skills early this morning. We observed them as we departed this morning.
The following pics were taken from the ferry going from SF to Angel Is.
California sea lions soaking up the sun!
Glen and Gayla in front of the Golden Gate Bridge from a point on Angel Island.
Pictures of Alcatraz Island are from the ferry and from the Island. Glen enjoyed an audio tour of the prison/cel blocks. He and I also walked around the gardens that inmates were allowed to work in.
Alcatraz Island is 1.5 miles from the mainland. Fifty-degree water temps and strong rip currents prevented successful escapes--or attempted escapes. There were 14 attempts. The last attempt was in 1962; Robert F. Kennedy as Attorney General closed the federal prison in 1963.
However the prisoners were not the last occupants. Several Native Americans in late 1969 took over Alcatraz in an attempt to bring national attention to the dealings with the Native Americans and the Federal Government and the forced removal from the tribal lands. The occupancy lasted 19 months.
Prior to serving as a federal prison Alcatraz served the Army as a fortress and military prison. The National Park Service took over in 1972. Several of the buildings have burned, leaving mere shells of buildings.
All you wanted to know about Alcatraz and more!
Ending the day on a happier and prettier note---
San Francisco Bay!
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