LateNightHacking Louis Journal

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This morning, we got up fairly early. We had a boat to catch! We got ready for the day, packed up, and checked out of our hotel room. We left our bags with the hotel bell hop for the day, and hopped on the cable car. This time we were early enough, there was practically no line. Again we ended up on the car going to Ghiradelli Square. We headed toward the boats near Peir 39, keeping an eye out for a coffee shop or something for breakfast. We stopped at Boudin's at Fisherman's Wharf, because they had some really unique breakfast items. We each got a bread bowl scrambler, which consisted of a sourdough breadbowl, toasted, with hash browns, scrambled eggs with bell peppers, and bacon inside it. It was really good. They also had sour dough french toast and some sort of breakfast pizza that looked good - we'll have to try those another time.

When we finished breakfast, it was time to get on the boat to Alcatraz. I agree, it's closer to San Francisco than it appears. However, what surprised me most was that there was a lot more history too it than just being a prison. Most of the buildings you see on the island are from the millitary fort that was built there, from the same era as Fort Point. We saw a little movie about the island at the visitor center, then went on a ranger guided tour. The ranger covered the fort history of the island, and pointed out the moat (probably the only one ever built in the west) and the bombardment shelters ("bomb proofs"). We got to go into some of the restricted areas and through one of very few tunnels (nothing like in the movie The Rock) and see the old laundry. Then we hiked up to the top of the hill and took the audio tour of the cell block. Michelle and I agreed the audio tour was very good. It led you back and forth and around the cell block, pointing out different things as you went and telling some of the history. If you were on your own, it wouldn't have been much more than a big room with a bunch of cells. Instead, it was pretty fascinating, and you got to see how they lived and where the escape attempts were made, and such.

After the audio tour, we wandered around the island a bit more, checking out the parade grounds. The residential section was bulldozed and is a complete ruin, and there's bird droppings everywhere, so its pretty desolate. We went back to the dock and took the ferry back to the main land.

We were getting hungry, but we had dinner planned with Sean and Heather, so we were trying to decide what to do. We decided to share a basket of popcorn shrimp from one of the vendors at Fisherman's Wharf. We went out to our secret bench along the waterfront behind the restaurants and ate our shrimp there. Then we decided we should go to Ghiradelli, since despite all the times we'd been past it, we hadn't had any ice cream there.

On the wasy, we stopped at one of the street vendors and bought a watercolor painting of three San Francisco scenes for a souvenir. We continued up to Ghiradelli, and got a hot fudge sundae to share. We went to the upper floor dining room to avoid some of the hubub of the main dining room, but we ran into a family having a birthday party for a bunch of little boys. Oh well. The ice cream was still good. :)

We caught the cable car back toward our hotel. We got off at Union square to do a little more shopping. We started at Williams and Sonoma. That was the most amazing Williams and Sonoma I have ever been in. Four stories tall and very elegant. Going in W&S always makes me want to cook. :) We also went into Tiffany's, Urban Outfitters, and Baby Gap. Still no baby, but Michelle can't resist the cute outfits. Oh well, we'll be set when we do have kids. :)

We went back to our hotel and picked up our luggage. Right on time, Sean and Heather arrived to pick us up. We went to a great German restaurant called Suppenküche. I had the lamb chop with mashed potatoes and spinach, and Michelle had meatloaf with bacon and egg and mashed potatoes. After a delicious meal, we decided to try to find a coffee or dessert shop so we could hang out and chat some more before going to the airport. After driving around to two different shops suggested by Sean's Palm Pilot and finding they were closed, we decided to go back to Ghiradelli. Michelle and I shared a butterscotch sundae (I can't remember what it was called) and Sean and Heather also shared a sundae.

All too soon, it was time to head to the airport. Sean and Heather gave us a ride, and dropped us off at SFO at the United terminal where Michelle was flying out of. After seeing Michelle off, I walked over to the Northwest ticket counter to discover . . . my flight was delayed by six hours! They gave me a hotel voucher, so I caught the hotel shuttle and got a few hours of sleep before making the trek back to the airport.