~California Dreamin - Photographic Report~Index on post #1~Completed 8/17/07~

[blue_river]

This is great!!!!

I love picture reports

What wonderful memories for the girls
- and for the mothers


Waiting for more pictures

 

[tiggerwannabe]

This is great!!!!

I love picture reports

What wonderful memories for the girls
- and for the mothers


Waiting for more pictures

Next chapter coming right up...

Yes, the girls had a great time and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to take them~

Rose is already calling me about our next trip

We have a DISmeet in July, Rose and I will be near Hershey for the whole weekend.

We have a couples weekend planned for Williamsburg this summer for she and I and our hubbys.

We go to NC together every year, this one is scheduled for the end of August, beginning of September. The whole family gets to go to NC, including our dogs~

and last but not least, for this year anyway, we are going to Orlando in December-for that trip I will most likely take my son and husband and leave DD at home this time. She feels it was a fair trade with her being the only one who went to California with me.

...ok, I'm done yammering...time to post some pics...

 

[tiggerwannabe]

Our second day in San Francisco was just as grey and a little more chilly than the first...The National Park service runs a ferry to Alcatraz. The dock is only a couple blocks from where we stayed and a little further than Pier 39...We prepurchased tickets from Harbor Cruises for the 9am ferry, only $43 for two people, round trip.

The first stop is at what was employee/prison guard housing. This building started as a fortress and eventually was used as housing for those who worked on the island.

The stairway seen here was closed to visitors. Alot of the prison property is fenced off either because of nesting birds (they attack if you get too close) or deterioration due to the age of the prison.

Rose is under the blue hood you see here, DD was patiently waiting for the park ranger to finish his speech before we could go tour the prison.

This is a guard tower, the first one we go by on our way up to the prison...

This is the last checkpoint before you enter the grounds...

This used to be an officers club before it was destroyed by a fire...

Here is the inside of what's left of the building.

This is the watertower that supplied the whole island.

This is the warehouse/storehouse the prison used to house its supplies...

I believe this was another common house used daily by the officers...

Here's another stairwell closed off cause of birds...

This guy was standing guard over the nest on the stairs~

This is the powerhouse, the generators for the prison were housed inside here...

This area was blocked off because of deterioration of the site...

Next up: We go inside, don't worry, we get out

 

[tiggerwannabe]

First stop for prisoners is the showers...

they picked up what they needed in this first room before heading into the water...

Communal living is no joke in prison, this is their one huge shower stall...

After a shower, this is the way up to the cells...

There are 3 main areas of cells in Alcatraz. Section A was rarely used, section B was for the general population, section C was for the ill and those who couldn't behave.

The spiral staircase was for guards to access the different tiers in their section...

This was the first cell we found to replicate the infamous breakout in 1962...

This told us all the details and even shows the path they took.

There were three that actually got out that day, these show us where they were housed, in relation to the third who was down the row a little by himself.

For those who've seen the movie, this is behind the cells and how the escapees got out of the building. (They climbed the pipes behind the wall to get to the roof.)

We found some cells that were open and the girls felt like hamming it up..Here's Stef behind bars...

and here is Britt...

Britt, I guess, really had to go...

This is them using the visitor windows...

Next was the control room...

this guy was hanging out just outside of the control room.

We stepped outside and could see the city of San Francisco...

This is the lighthouse on the city side of the island.

Here's one more look at the general cell area...

and the view of the cutoff used to access the cells.

One more set of shots and we too are ready to escape from Alcatraz~

 

[MrOakie]

Great pictures I was born in Oakland, and just absolutely love SF. Haven't been back to SF since we moved to Louisiana 5 years ago. I have a sister that still lives in SF, and we may get to go back to visit her in the (hopefully) not so distant future.

Love the report so far. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

 

[Spartangirl]

Loving your report so far! We leave for CA in a few weeks and Alcatraz is our first stop!

 

[tiggerwannabe]

Gettin down to the nitty gritty...

This I guess is a very old version of metal detector...

The Cafeteria...

The Kitchen area - to the left...

The Kitchen area - to the right...

The totally huge door that leads into the cafeteria...

The Guard's Desk...

The escapees...

The exercise yard...

The stairway back into the prison...

Isolation Cell from the outside...

Isolation cell from the inside...

The view of the cell block from inside the library...

Leaving the island...

The only view we got of the Golden Gate Bridge...

The view of the City...

Britt's scrunchy face...again...

Our cruise ship

After Alcatraz we went back to the hotel, Rose went back to San Francisco International to pick up a rental car, the girls went to the wax museum while I waited at the hotel and babysat our luggage...I can post Stefanie's pics fro mthe wax museum if y'all like. We moved back to San Jose and stayed at the Pruneyard this evening. Nan was supposed to go see Pirates again with us but it wound up being only Rose, Stef, Brittany and Me.

 

[bstsuda]

It's really great to see all these photos and experience your trip to our beautiful state through "YOUR" eyes.....of course there's so much taken for granted once you've lived here for SOOOO long that it takes viewing someone elses photos to bring back the realizatio! And so much of your trip we don't really go to anymore either unless we have out of state or out of town visitors....thanks again...sure enjoying it all!!

 

[Aisling]

Ansel Adams once said, "There are at least two people in every photograph; the one who took the picture and the person looking at it."

I'd never heard this quote by Ansel Adams, but from it I can see how you truly are a photographer in heart and soul. Some of the photos are stunning. Wonderful job, my friend.
One that made me laugh was the one with Brittany and Stefanie through the visitors glass, with their hands touching through the glass. They looked like they were gettin jiggy wit Alcatraz.

 

[tiggerwannabe]

I really enjoyed California Brenda...I know the girls did too...

there was just soooo much going on at once going back thru these pictures helps me relive it all over again, a little bit at a time

Yeah Aisling, they are a couple of hams when they spend any time together...

They've always been great friends, there is actually a third in this group named Courtney that I totally wish could have come with us. Courtney, Stefanie and Brittany literally all grew up together. Coming home on the plane I noticed how the girls became close friends all over again~

 

[tiggerwannabe]

We left San Francisco about 3 o'clock in the afternoon...

the clouds were literally rolling off the hillside, it looked soooo cool!

We checked in to the Pruneyard about an hour later, it was *really* nice for the price we paid. (It was about half the cost per day as the one in San Francisco.

Granite countertops in the bathroom, a stand up shower, a fridge, a microwave and an extra sink in the room...

We got a second floor room with a nice view of the fountain out front...

Rose and Stef and me went down and enjoyed the hot tub...Brittany stayed in the room and tried to sleep for about an hour.

The Pruneyard had a beautiful mural on the courtyard wall, just had to bring home a photo to share...

As I said earlier, we took Rose and Stefanie to the Pruneyard cinema to see Pirates of the Caribbean. I totally enjoyed seeing it again, those two were totally lost after it was over. We stopped at a brewery right behind the hotel for a quick dinner. The food was ok, the beer was better~

Tomorrow, we drive the Pacific Coast on our way to Disneyland. Nan and her family are flying to Anaheim. They landed around 11 and spent the day at the park. We left the hotel around 9 or 10 that morning, the Pacific Coast is gorgeous! (but Lord help you if you get queezy) After 8 hours on the highway we were totally ready to be outta there.

The traffic through LA was a bit hairy, as expected. We found the exit to Disneyland rather easily but figuring out which of the two dozen Best Westerns in the area was ours was a challenge and a half.

Check in was fairly easy, Rose was impressed by the rates they charge. Our room was on the front of the hotel, top floor, facing Disneyland itself :

til then my friends...hasta Manana~

 

[bstsuda]

I really enjoyed California Brenda...I know the girls did too...

there was just soooo much going on at once going back thru these pictures helps me relive it all over again, a little bit at a time

QUOTE]

photos can definitely DO THAT...another reason i'm so adamant about putting my photos AND all the stories behind them in our albums....when i miss the Magic or my family (as they ALL live in Iowa)....i have albums and albums of 'treasured together times'

 

[bstsuda]

I really enjoyed California Brenda...I know the girls did too...

there was just soooo much going on at once going back thru these pictures helps me relive it all over again, a little bit at a time

QUOTE]

photos can definitely DO THAT...another reason i'm so adamant about putting my photos AND all the stories behind them in our albums....when i miss the Magic or my family (as they ALL live in Iowa)....i have albums and albums of 'treasured together times'

 

[tiggerwannabe]

I have a plan...

When this report is all finished, I'm gonna switch it over to printable mode and print everything for my first scrapbook. I figure this way I have the photos and the captions all ready to paste...right?

I just finished loading up all the Disneyland and California Adventure pictures!

They are all finally in my photobucket, I can post them to my trip report tomorrow~I am so proud of the Disney park photos! I am actually in some since Nan isn't shy about using my camera

 

[bstsuda]

Oh my gosh...if you took PCH from Santa Cruz all the way down you DID go right by my office.....DARN it ALL....well i hope we'll meet up in NYC!!!

 

[tiggerwannabe]

Oh we will

I can use the excuse of my birthday and maybe get hubby to spend the night up there with me YOu said Sept 19th right?

I videotaped most of the trip down the coast...

As soon as I figure out how (ahem...Chad...hint hint) I will post it on youtube for all to see~

We stopped in Monterey and a view Vista spots off the road. The view is gorgeous the whole ride down...the girls, esp Stefanie, hated it she kept mumbling in the back, "we really shoulda flew."

I determined if I ever go back to the coast I am gonna do it from a hotel right there on the cliffs.

 

[Lauralee131]

Awesome pictures so far!! See...this is why I love you!! A great photographic trip report...

I'm heading out of town for the weekend, but look forward to seeing more when I get back!!

 

[tiggerbell]

I'm only through the end of page 1 but I'm loving it!

We're in the process of arguing California vs. Florida for 2008... I'm torn!

 

[bstsuda]

Oh we will

I can use the excuse of my birthday and maybe get hubby to spend the night up there with me YOu said Sept 19th right?

I videotaped most of the trip down the coast...

As soon as I figure out how (ahem...Chad...hint hint) I will post it on youtube for all to see~

We stopped in Monterey and a view Vista spots off the road. The view is gorgeous the whole ride down...the girls, esp Stefanie, hated it she kept mumbling in the back, "we really shoulda flew."

I determined if I ever go back to the coast I am gonna do it from a hotel right there on the cliffs.

Yes we get in on the 19th about 5ish...plan on just doing the sightseeing stuff thurs & friday....then hopefully we'll choose a Broadway play or musical for Sat & we have the Yankees on Sunday...so....what day is your BD??? Maybe we can plan to all have dinner somewhere friday night???

 

[bstsuda]

Did you happen to stop in Carmel and check out the "white sand beaches"? Carmel is an awesome little town - BIG BIG $$$$ to live & shop there...but SOOOOO cute!!!! I love that town & really enjoy having our 'weekend crops' there - which is twice a year....even the girls would have loved Carmel~but that drive really is a long one....thank God it is a gorgeous one!!