Lock Me Up and Throw Away the Key

Every other year for Parker's birthday in lieu of a party he gets to choose an activity that he wants to do with a friend. This year he chose to go to Alcatraz with his friend Derick. We made it a day trip into the city, taking BART to the Embarcadero Station and then the F Line Streetcar to the piers.



Spencer loved BART. As long as it was moving that is. Every time the train would stop at the next station he wanted off. Yes, this happened a total of 12 times each way.



Within minutes of getting onto BART, Justin ripped his shorts. It was pretty funny.



This is Kaitlyn's classic "Kaitlyn Expression" to the pants ripping incident.



This is Trisha doing her best "Buddy the Elf" impersonation on the elevator up to Market Street.



It was a beautiful day in SF. We had been anticipating rain all week long and it ended up being sunny and in the 60's.



We took a ferry over to the island and fortunately I did not hurl.



Once we got to the island, we ate lunch before seeing the sites. This is the boys trying to escape off of Alcatraz.



It was so clear you could see the Golden Gate Bridge.




The island itself is really pretty. There are beautiful flowers and amazing trees all over. Here is Spencer smelling a Calla Lily.



This is Spencer eating the Calla Lily.



Once inside the prison, we went on an audio tour which tells you the history behind Alcatraz narrated by actual prison workers and prisoners that were kept there.







We were able to tour the solitary confinement cells. These were the cells that prisoners stayed in when they broke the rules. They were kept in the dark with nothing to lay on except the concrete floor. It was so dark in there that your eyes would not adjust to be able to see your hand in front of your face. It was claustrophobic. The average prisoner stayed in there for 2 days as punishment. The longest anyone was kept in there was for 19 days.



Parker's favorite part of the tour was seeing the holes in the vents that the prisoners dug out with spoons to escape. The prisoners are still considered to be on the run as their bodies have never been found even though it is most likely that they died in the Bay.