San Francisco - Fourth And Final Day, Part One

If you have been following along our little trip, I apologize for the delay.
Life, work, dental appointments....all have a way of disrupting blogging intentions. ;0)
(Remember, you can click on pictures to enlarge - but please, NO borrowing!)








Aww, our last day was kind of sad.
We had such a good trip, enjoyed our time together so much, and saw so many interesting sights...I really hated to leave.
But we still had things to do and places to see so we started our morning as all others - up bright and early, breakfast downstairs, a recap of the day's agenda, and a brisk morning walk down to Fisherman's Wharf.
I loved the brisk, cool, salt-tinged air!

We had decided to go to Alcatraz Island first so we would plenty of time to explore. We headed to the dock to catch the ferry boat.


We slipped in right at the gate closing!
Whew!
We almost missed the boat! ;0)










We took a lot of pictures from around and inside the prison.





We used the audio MP3 tours and it was very interesting to hear the history of the prison, its inmates, and colorful tales.




I found it rather depressing and intimidating but fascinating at the same time.
The recurrent theme was that NO ONE had ever escaped from Alcatraz alive.
However, when listening to the story of the three inmates who escaped by digging out with spoons and leaving papier mache' heads on their cots as decoys, I noticed a sign posted in one of the cells. It states that items contained within were used as props in the "Most Wanted" television series and that the "three men were still considered to be fugitives".
So!



They DID escape, or at least made it off the island.
It's hard to believe anyone could survive that choppy, freezing cold water and swim over a mile to land.
But who knows for sure?








The Feller and I had a long conversation about the possibilities and "what ifs".
It was a very intriguing place to visit and strangely beautiful. I found myself needing to take deep cleansing breaths as we pulled away, back to "freedom".
(Being confined is a huge phobia of mine.) ;0)


Okay, pretty flowers to make me think of something less scary! ;0)





It was a bit early in the year for the gardens but Alcatraz is said to have beautiful flower gardens. Maybe next time....






Then,it was back on the boat and ferried back to SF.



We had both worked up an appetite and it was now or never to get my crab!
We headed to the Wharf and selected a vendor and ordered a yummy Dunganess crab.
He promptly dropped in a huge vat of boiling water
(for about 45 seconds max!),
then he swiftly cracked the crab so I could pick the sweet flesh out more easily.
Oh, I could barely wait to dig in!




Could I have looked any more goofy?!

Ummmmmm!


He got the chowder in the sour dough bread bowl again.
Next time, we have decided he should just get a big bowl
of soup with bread on the side.
There is not enough chowder in the bowl....but it sure is tasty!
We found a little patio with public seating and ate our lunch there.
We had eaten there before and knew to expect visitors.
And yes, I always save a crumb for those pesky gulls and pigeons!




After our little appetizers, we decided to walk about the Wharf some more. We only had a few more hours and we still had things to see and do.
We decided to take our Boudin Bakery tour but they were having a private event so we settled on some pictures and I bought a French loaf of sour dough bread for the trip home.








Back later with the wrap up our day.