Day 1: Alcatraz Island and Ghirardelli Square

 Last week we took an awesome trip to San Francisco.  None of us had ever been there before and we were all impressed with this amazing city.  Let me start by saying that when I was growing up, I heard about things like the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island but I never imagined that I would actually see these places in person someday.  As far as I planned, I was happy to live out my days in a small town in New England and California seemed so very far away. 
But, somehow, along the way, God led us to California.  It has been difficult to move from different places (first Connecticut, then Chicago and then Cincinnati) and say good bye to good friends and start over somewhere new!  I feel like I'm still trying to find my way here in CA.  But, in many ways, I feel like I've led such a privileged life, in that I've been able to enjoy so many unique experiences and see so many amazing things.  I am very thankful for the life that God has given me and very thankful for this trip that we were able to take. 
Ken attends a Bible conference every year and it is always held in a different city.  This year, since it was in San Francisco, we drove up together.  As Ken attended the conference, I took the kids out sightseeing.  We bought something called a City Pass which was a very economical way to visit 5 different sites (Alcatraz, CA Museum of Sciences, Exploratorium, Aquarium of the Bay, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art).  It also included unlimited free public transportation. 
Ken really enjoyed his conference and we really enjoyed exploring a new area.  Ken was able to come with us on our adventures on this day so that was extra fun.

 Alcatraz was a truly amazing experience.  Above was the shower room where the inmates would shower.  The building was very cold and the wind seemed to blow right through it.  Each inmate was given clothes, a blanket and a pillow.  Their cells were very small.

 Some of the most notorious criminals stayed here.  It is surprisingly close to the shore of SF.  On the audio tour, it said that the prisoners could often hear the people in SF laughing and having a good time. 

 Much like life at our house, there were a few escape attempts (some successful) and a few prison takeover attempts.  Above you can see some pretty notorious troublemakers.

 The picture above shows the solitary confinement area, otherwise know as "the hole".

 The view of the city from Alcatraz was amazing, especially with the fog moving off the bay. 

 The buildings on Alcatraz are in pretty bad shape but I wonder how much better they were when the prison was in use.

 Brad and Sky finally relaxed once they realized they weren't going to see any real bad guys.

Later that night we rode a cable car to Ghirardelli Square.  Sky lost her coat off of the cable car and when the cable car finally stopped we were too far away to go back and get it.  She also had her American girl doll with her so, thankfully, she didn't go overboard too.
Ever since I worked at the Ghirardelli's in Chicago at the Water Tower, I have wanted to visit the original Ghirardelli's in SF.  I never thought I would actually get to do it though.  This was definitely a great day for crossing things off my bucket list.