San Francisco and Our Escape From Alcatraz!

We took off from Sierra Tahoe after lining up with jobs for the skiing season and headed for San Francisco. Our thoughts were seafood, Golden Gate Bridge, The Wharf, and Alcatraz. San Francisco was enroute to our lodging at Moffett Field so we wanted to take in a couple sights since the day was still young. We seem to never learn to beat the parking system in the big towns so why should San Fran be any different. Not wanting to be ticketing or robbed we decided to use the parking garage. We didn’t read the fine print to only find that at the end of four hours we clocked up a $28 charge. What a rip!!! Anywho, we sauntered down the way to the grotto to get a visual on all the fresh seafood coming off the boats. IT was fresh and it was busy but more surprisingly it was expensive. In Bar Harbor a whole lobster was $20 but in San Fran it was $57. Oysters were about $3 each. We did some sightseeing, touched to bay water, scoped a bunch of sea lions and click a few frames of the Golden Gate and Alcatraz from a distance.

Our appetites finally got the best of us so we got a few recommendations that lead us to Scoma’s down on the dock. The seafood was direct from the sea and by the number of autographed photos on the wall it was frequented by many celebrities. Have to admit that it was the finest seafood dish ever, so I guess you do get what you pay for. We walked off some of the fare around Hyde Park and back to the car to Moffett for a resting till the next day.
We got up early, 0830 PST, and headed out for San Francisco Bay. We drove straight to the Golden Gate Bridge to get some close up photos. It was pretty spectacular. Then off to catch our boat over to Alcatraz.
The weather was super and visibility much better than the day before. Forgot to mention that the day before the clouds were covering the bridge, which made for some wonderful photos. Then off to the Presidio to see the great old buildings and on to the cruise across the bay. The sun was warm and the breeze kept it cool for the entire trip.
As we got closer to Alcatraz it seemed like a movie scene. There were some pretty awesome things to see. Cell Block D, C, and the work out yard, along with Solitary Confinement. We saw the attempted escape routes and cells from which they began.


The likes of Al Capone,
Machine Gun Kelly graced the “Rock”. At the end of the tour we met a gent who was a prisoner there who wrote a book and was autographing them.
We returned to the shore a couple of hours later with our appetites intact but refrained from partaking taking on stores until we toured the USS Pampanito, a WWII Submarine. Made me miss the Navy AGAIN. The knee knockers, hatches, close quarters, small racks, one shower for 80 men and minimum stuff allowed onboard. We made it to the closest bar, as all sailors do, and drank a cool one. We got the recommendation to eat at “In and Out”, a burger joint. Was cheap, good, and hit the spot.

One of the gents at the bar mentioned that Joe DiMaggio lived on Filmore and Washington when he was young. So we took off over to the other side of town to find that. Snapped a frame to send to the Son for his collection.

Then the last out of the town trip was to Filbert Street to photograph the winding street.
You will have to see the picture to understand why it is one of the most photographed spots in the city besides Hyde Street. Norma stuck her toe in the San Francisco Bay to get all the checks in the block and then we were on our way back to Moffett Field to rest up for our next trek down the Pacific Coast Highway.