THE ROCK

Growing up, I lived near the Bay Area for about 20 years. Jay and I have been visiting Jamie in San Fran for about 8 years. And yet, somehow, until this trip, I had neglected to take the time to visit The Rock. Jay had been once before, on the night tour, and we decided to take a break from parenthood for a few hours and go on an adventure together. Not only was it a good idea that we left James with his uncle and grandmas due to the weather (Alcatraz was COLD - the national park service uses the famous quote, usually attributed to Mark Twain: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco", to describe the island), but it was great for Jay and I to have some time alone. It felt like we were dating again, off exploring the hidden wonders of a national park. We lagged behind the tour guide, birdwatching, taking photos, smelling the flowers (San Francisco has AMAZING flowers), and just enjoying each other's company. We skipped the audio tour and just wandered the dark prison, reading the placards and whispering to each other. We loved that everyone else had on headphones for the audio tour though... with probably 300+ visitors in the prison, nobody but us said a single word! The best part (other than the birds, of course) was the old hospital wing. It's only open for a half hour on the night tours, the lights are kept low (lanterns mostly), and many of the rooms are closed because they are falling apart. Such a creepy feeling in that part of the prison, but so cool to experience. After we made the rounds, we ran downhill just in time to catch the earlier ferry back to the city. Like I said, it was COLD. And we missed our boy. Here are a few photos from our adventure at The Rock: Brandt's Cormorants and Agave dominate the eastern end of the island: D Wing, where the worst of the worst were kept. You can see "the hole" cells in the background: