playing tourists...

If you vacation this close to San Francisco of course you must hit some of the tourist attractions. The photo above shows our visit to Pier 39 with views of Alcatraz, the Golden Gate bridge in the fog and our visit to the Aquarium of the Bay and souveiner photos compliments of Bausch & Laumb in advertising their new Bio true contact solution. Proves that some things in life really are free with no strings attached :)

We also took the Alcatraz Island tour. Most people think of Alcatraz as only a prison but did you know it is a National Park site? It's history started as a campsite for the local native people pre-1769, later it became the site for the first lighthouse on the west coast and a military defense fort during the Civil War times. After the war it became a military prison and in 1934 during the gangster era it became a federal penitentiary, the country's first "maximum security" prison. After the prison closed in 1963 it sat deserted for 6 years before members of the American Indian movement took over the island and occupied it as their own for 18 months.
After we climbed the steep roads to the "top of the rock" we entered the cell blocks and were given audio devices to take self guided tours. We heard the voices of former prison guards as well as inmates describing what life was like at Alcatraz. We all enjoyed the tour and history of Alcatraz but if you travel there I recommend advance tickets and they are usually sold out in advance.
After our tour we spent more time at Fisherman's Wharf before getting back in the van to take a cruise down Lombard Street (sorry the rear window defrosters show on my photo), the crookedest street in SF. On our drive to Lombard in some crazy SF traffic we witnessed a car accident a mere 6 feet directly in front of us so we had enough of the city driving and opted not to travel to the Golden Gate bridge.
Our last tourist excursion of the trip was the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. This 160 room mansion was continually built on for 38 years, 24 hours a day by the owner, Sara Winchester, the heir of the Winchester Rifles. She believed is she didn't keep building the spirits of all those killed by the Winchester guns would haunt her so it is quite the house to see with doors & stairways going nowhere and one of the largest collections of Tiffany stained glass windows in the country. Our tour took us through 140 of the 160 rooms as well as all the outbuildings and gardens.