Alcatraz & Pier 39

Today Nana and I took the boys into San Francisco to take a tour of Alcatraz Island and spend some time by the bay.

After we arrived down town & parked, we walked down to Pier 33 for our Alcatraz tour. Thank goodness a few people had mentioned that we needed to buy tickets ahead because the tours were sold out for a week.

We happily boarded the boat at excitedly set sail for Alcatraz.

On the way over the boys were excited to watch out toward the island. They really just wanted to see where we were going.

On the way back the boys wanted to watch the water in the bay. They saw boats and wind surfers. They also saw fish and seals swimming next to the boat.

Once we got to the island we all had to listen to the park ranger give us information and do's and don'ts. After that we were free to roam.

We began to climb up and up and up.

Luckily for us volunteers have replicated the gardens from the time of the prison and we were able to see a lot of beautiful flowers.

The boys were hoping to see a dead body in the morgue, but they were disappointed.

We took an audio tour of the prison itself and learned a lot. The boys made it through about 3/4 of the tour before they were ready do some more exploring.

The day was so clear and cool. We could see the Golden Gate Bridge (behind me), as well as the bay bridge.

We could also see the city very clearly. In this picture the lines to the right of Nana are the very steep city streets. It was so neat.

Once returned from Alcatraz, we were really ready for some yummy lunch. We headed down to Pier 39 and went to find fresh seafood at the Crab House.

After lunch, Nana took the 2 younger boys on a double decker carousel. They chose to ride on the tea cup type ride that you can spin around and around. Nana rode too. She said she really thought Jake was going to puke, but luckily, he didn't.

While on the peer we did a little shopping, penny pressing and watched a magic show.

But the kids really loved to see the Sea Lions most of all.

The day flew by and before we knew it we were leaving right in the middle of 5 O'clock traffic. We had fun, but knew we'd have to go back to see a lot more stuff!