Appreciate your freedom!

I had the opportunity to do a bit of SF touristing this past Friday and made a trip to Alcatraz Island as well as the lesser-known but equally interesting Angel Island. I have to say that if you haven't had the opportunity to visit either location, I highly suggest it but warn you to pack a jacket even if it IS supposed to be 82 in the City because it is COLD out there on the boat and shelling out $20 for a jacket and windbreaker that screams tourist feels like the best purchase you have ever made in your life!

The day was a good one, starting out at Johnny Rocket's for breakfast, followed by an hour-long boat ride to Angel Island where we then took some trams that looked an awful lot like the old tour buses from Universal Studios Hollywood. They used a canned recording to narrate the 45-minute tour around the island, but I have to admit that it was surprisingly entertaining and chock full of information. We made our way back to the park and had some nachos for lunch (who doesn't enjoy a little cheez-whiz and chips every now and again???), then got back onto the boat for the 30-minute trek to THE ROCK.

I had only been to Alcatraz once and it was about 11 years ago, so I have to admit that it was kind of exciting to see and hear all about the prison and quality of life that the inmates experienced. The facility has obviously aged and run down a bit since it closed back in 1963, but it still is pretty imposing and thinking about being trapped in such a scenic location makes me wonder what it must have been like to sit in the recreation yard, staring at the beautiful skyline, unable to go where one wanted to go or when they wanted to.

I was admittedly entertained by the many rules that each prisoner had to follow. Particularly amusing to me was Regulation #5: "You are entitled to food, clothing, shelter and medical attention. Anything else you get is a privilege." I bought the magnet and put it in my office, just in case anyone wants to demand something from me!

All of the Alcatraz prison visiting made us want to watch the movie, 'Escape from Alcatraz', which is exactly what we did on Saturday. It was kind of cool to see the Hollywood version of the escape (prison officials call it an attempt, but no bodies were ever found, so did they make it??) as well as have a bearing on where everything was located since we had been in the prison the day before. While cool to watch, I have to admit that actually thinking about being held somewhere and told what I could do when is NOT something that is on my list of things to do anytime in the near future.

Appreciate your freedom...and don't so anything dumb to mess that up!