About the Trip Part II

The third day of the trip was spent partly on the famous island of Alcatraz. We had purchased the tickets in advanced as the boats book up quickly. We took the ferry out into the bay again and were dropped off on the island.

We were able to go on an hour long tour with one of the park rangers who took us around the island and took us into some of the places that are not opened to the public. The ranger has been working on Alcatraz for 20 years and knew his stuff. He said that the night before he had spent sleeping on the island with a school group. A sleep over on Alcatraz, sounds a little spooky to me. The tour was great. He told us a lot about the history of the island which has been occupied for 200 years. It was first a military garrison and then became a prison. It was only the famous prison for about 28 years, not for very long. He took us underneath some of the caves of the island and then took us into a room where they used to do the laundry. The prisoners would so the laundry for the military and part of their time. The picture of the wash basin is said to be the one that Al Capone used while he was there. This room was also where they filmed a scene from "The Rock" with Nick Cage and Sean Connery. There was a lot of history there, you could feel it in the air, I loved it.

After the tour we walked the island which is rich in wildlife and greenery. There were gardens that were tended by the prisoners there as well. Very beautiful. Alcatraz is a place of stark contrast. So much beauty yet so much pain and suffering. We hiked up several large hills and one steep staircase leading to the open yard where the prisoners had free time. We then went into the cell block and took the audio tour. Absolutely fascinating. This is a must if you have an opportunity to go. It was amazing, so much history, so dark, murky, and sad there. Again you can just feel it in the air. There is something haunting about it. After the prison closed down in the 60's, the Indians took over for 19 months and a large group of them lived on the island. This was when a large portion of the island was burned down, several of the buildings were destroyed and still remain that way today. We loved this time, I will say not kid friendly, there was a lot of climbing, you had to climb a steep incline the equivalent of a 13 story building. A lot of walking. But it was worth it.