B & D's USA Hideout: San Fran

We entered the ring again for round 2 with the Golden Gate City. We stayed at the same RV park just south of town and did a little more exploring and touring around this time. We met up with our once east coast now San Fran friends, Brett and Michelle, to cheer on the Pats over brunch and beers at the Golden Gate Taproom. We also took over the shuffleboard table, which somehow took over the afternoon.

On Monday we towed the Hideout over to the storage/RV repair shop for housing and a couple slight improvements during our Hawaii trip. The first was the oven, the pilot would light but not kick over when you turned the knob. The second was the thermostat which was not sensing to turn on regularly. We dropped it off early and then caught the train downtown to hop aboard the ferry to Alcatraz Island.

Alcatraz is located right in the middle of the Bay and seems obscurely close to shore. It was decommissioned 53 years ago due to high operating costs and deteriorating buildings and is now apart of the National Park Service. Known as "The Rock", Alcatraz held many notorious, gangsters, murderers and criminals including, Al Capone, Robert "The Birdman" Stroud and James "Whitey" Bulger. We listened to former inmates, correctional officers and residents of the island via the audio tour that guided us around the premises. We learned that in the 29 years of operation, 36 inmates tried to escape and 5 are still unaccounted for today. While we were there, we also got to meet one of the last living inmates of Alcatraz. William G. Baker wrote a memoir of his account as an inmate titled Alcatraz #1259. We bought his book and waited in line for him to autograph it for us. He asked where we were from and after replying Boston, he asked if we knew Whitey Bulger. It hadn't occurred to us at the time but they may have been on Alcatraz at the same time. Brian is currently in the middle of reading Baker's book and says it is like your sitting next to him while is tells you his story. I can't wait to read it.

After our ferry ride back to the mainland, we walked over to the Fisherman's Wharf for a late lunch and a stroll down the docks. But with an early morning flight and still some packing to do, we booked a hotel near the airport and jumped on the train out of town.