I don't remember anything we did until we ate donuts and cream cheese danishes. I do remember this day ended with my entire family going to jail, though.
Just thinking about the food brings it all back. The sustenance (or sugar) gave us the energy to find and board the cable car. It was kind of like a roller coaster but without any kind of safety harness. We weren't going that fast, but Garrett, Dad and I were hanging onto the outside of the car (Mom got a chair) and the hills were huge. We were also super close to the car traffic.
Our roller coaster dumped us off at the Museè; Mecanique. The admission is free, and the building was full of antique toys and games, some from the 1800s and up to the '90s, and a lot of them were powered without electricity. They were typically used in old amusement parks. To see any of them actually work, you to pay the machines quarters, as if in an antique arcade. There was a jukebox that read music by the holes in the paper and played all the instruments, including drums, piano, tambourine, triangle, etc. Another interesting one demonstrated a miniature french execution. I promise videos when I get home.
I almost forgot lunch! We had delicious and super filling bread bowls with clam chowder at Boudin's and toured their bread bakery. ILOVEBREAD. Apparently the bread we had could be hundreds of years old because the bakers always saved some of the previous day's yeast to use in the next day's bread. They've been doing that since the bakery began.
We walked to Pier 39 for lunch and SHOPPING... two of my favorite things. There is a really cool earring store ; I went to a few years ago that I wanted to take my mom. There were several other cool stores I'll go into detail about later because I may have bought some presents there....
And then we all went to jail. Well, first we had to walk to Pier 33 and get on the boat to Alcatraz for our tour of the prison, which was pretty interesting. Highlights:
- only five prisoners successfully escaped (meaning their bodies were never found)
- only one prisoner escaped and made it to mainland before being recaptured and tried for escape, where as the rest of the 36 escapees throughout the prison's lifetime were recaptured on the island and tried for attempted escape
- al capone was the first high risk prisoner sent to Alcatraz
- "machine gun" Kelley was another high risk prisoner sent to Alcatraz and his case was the first high profile one to be taken on by the then-recently established FBI headed by J Edgar Hoover
- I got pictures of where prison guards dropped grenades to stop an attempted escape. Frag out!
No more spoilers. After the boat ride back, it was time for more food. We hiked around the hilly city for places Mom had coupons for, but both ended up being closed... it was basically my worst nightmare. Luckily we found Hunan's Home in Chinatown and it was delicious!!! We walked it off the 18 blocks or so to the hotel and I snuggled into my nice warm bed and had some really weird dreams for the second night in a row...
Oh, and naturally, I brought my pokewalker. I took 18,335 steps before midnight and about 2,000 steps after (Texas time. And it automatically resets at midnight). ( By the way, on an average day, I usually get about 7,000 steps.)
TO BE CONTINUED...
Just thinking about the food brings it all back. The sustenance (or sugar) gave us the energy to find and board the cable car. It was kind of like a roller coaster but without any kind of safety harness. We weren't going that fast, but Garrett, Dad and I were hanging onto the outside of the car (Mom got a chair) and the hills were huge. We were also super close to the car traffic.
Our roller coaster dumped us off at the Museè; Mecanique. The admission is free, and the building was full of antique toys and games, some from the 1800s and up to the '90s, and a lot of them were powered without electricity. They were typically used in old amusement parks. To see any of them actually work, you to pay the machines quarters, as if in an antique arcade. There was a jukebox that read music by the holes in the paper and played all the instruments, including drums, piano, tambourine, triangle, etc. Another interesting one demonstrated a miniature french execution. I promise videos when I get home.
I almost forgot lunch! We had delicious and super filling bread bowls with clam chowder at Boudin's and toured their bread bakery. ILOVEBREAD. Apparently the bread we had could be hundreds of years old because the bakers always saved some of the previous day's yeast to use in the next day's bread. They've been doing that since the bakery began.
We walked to Pier 39 for lunch and SHOPPING... two of my favorite things. There is a really cool earring store ; I went to a few years ago that I wanted to take my mom. There were several other cool stores I'll go into detail about later because I may have bought some presents there....
And then we all went to jail. Well, first we had to walk to Pier 33 and get on the boat to Alcatraz for our tour of the prison, which was pretty interesting. Highlights:
- only five prisoners successfully escaped (meaning their bodies were never found)
- only one prisoner escaped and made it to mainland before being recaptured and tried for escape, where as the rest of the 36 escapees throughout the prison's lifetime were recaptured on the island and tried for attempted escape
- al capone was the first high risk prisoner sent to Alcatraz
- "machine gun" Kelley was another high risk prisoner sent to Alcatraz and his case was the first high profile one to be taken on by the then-recently established FBI headed by J Edgar Hoover
- I got pictures of where prison guards dropped grenades to stop an attempted escape. Frag out!
No more spoilers. After the boat ride back, it was time for more food. We hiked around the hilly city for places Mom had coupons for, but both ended up being closed... it was basically my worst nightmare. Luckily we found Hunan's Home in Chinatown and it was delicious!!! We walked it off the 18 blocks or so to the hotel and I snuggled into my nice warm bed and had some really weird dreams for the second night in a row...
Oh, and naturally, I brought my pokewalker. I took 18,335 steps before midnight and about 2,000 steps after (Texas time. And it automatically resets at midnight). ( By the way, on an average day, I usually get about 7,000 steps.)
TO BE CONTINUED...
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