Behind The Scenes Behind Bars

Welcome aboard for your very unofficial tour of Alcatraz! First off, the Alcatraz City Cruises company does a great job of jetting you over to the island – and they leave about every half hour during the day AND accommodate more than 200 passengers per trip. Win!

Before you board, you can get a "paper mache" type layout of the island. It's not a huge island but all the buildings are squished in there somehow.

Beautiful waters despite the ugly destination.

My co-worker Tom and I feeling rebellious going to prison!

Alcatraz was a federal penitentiary until 1963. In 1969 Indigenous activists occupied Alcatraz for 19 months.

A guard's watch tower that at first looked like a lighthouse to this lighthouse fan.

The official "welcome" entrance to Alcatraz.

A former "officers club" that burned in a fire either caused by Indians or hippies. The jury is still out on that.

Lovely sign on the roof so you know you do NOT want to land there.

Just an artsy shot.

The model industries building.

The current state of electrical...

...And plumbing. In case someone has this crazy idea to reopen this place!

More from the Indian occupation.

Well of course there's a morgue. Not everyone can survive these luxurious island accommodations.

In the cellhouse now.... no privacy for showers or anything else.

My childhood dream house had spiral stairs. But yeah, not so sure in this setting!

The narrators in our fascinating audio tour of the cellhouse...

Who knows how they got former inmates to participate, but it added a real-feel element to the tour.

Three levels of cells. My first thought was Shawshank Redemption! Such a similar look and feel. And Al "Scarface" Capone was here!

Cells were 5 feet wide so even I am too tall to sleep in the "width". Not by much.

I can smile when I know it's just a tour and I don't have to spend extended time here. Of course, women weren't welcome anyway.

Solitary confinement is as bad as it sounds. 

The prisoner on the audio tour said he'd just have to adjust to the dark and pretend to play a TV screen in from him to visualize something – anything. 

Oh just me looking at angles and finding something pretty – architecturally. 

Prison library again reminded me of the Shawshank movie!

Free time for most included smoking – they got a lot of cigarettes – and hobbies like chess and music.

The escapees in 1962 made fake mask heads to put in their beds while they burrowed out of prison via the tunnels they dug with spoons. There were three of them and they were never found.

Prison cafeteria offering a balanced meal!

The kitchen crew made sure there was a knife matching each black outline on the cutlery board. Should I be alarmed they were all missing?!

Random beauty because prison gardens were actually a thing.

An artsy shot of the Bay Bridge.

A light house that appears to be more used by birds than anything else!

Evening view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the island.

Oh yeah, we're in California. There are palm trees here! 

More surprising garden work.

And a little bit more.

Another artsy shot of the Bay Bridge over to Oakland.

Our ride.

View of the San Francisco shoreline. It's definitely a compact city on a hill for lack of a better definition. 

Thank you, Congress, for making Alcatraz part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. And thank you for coming along on my virtual (surely incomplete) tour of Alcatraz.

Fine, I'll Sign Autographs

I think I told some of you that if you tuned in to the Golf Channel and watched my company's tournament on Maui, you might see someone you know. 

And here I am...

I know. How many times do I have to have my face or name appear on international television channels this year to become famous. Or at least wealthy?

Ha. It was just fun to have the TV contingent on Maui care about what was happening in our Stevens Point, Wisconsin, office. We were all glad to be a part of it.

And even though I've been asked more than a few times this week "How come you're not on Maui?" I'm just going to guess that I'm too far down the totem pole...

And that I'll just have to stick with my Maui memories with this guy. And that's fine by me! Aloha!

And have a good weekend!

Caribbean Countdown

Although the app on my phone has been counting down to my first cruise, I wasn't going to say anything until it was official.

As in this baby arrived today so I officially CAN go and CAN leave the country! For the record, a passport renewal takes 7+ weeks right now. It's kind of nerve-wracking because you have to mail your old passport in and you just pray they get it. And then pray your new one comes safely in the mail.

Good thing I've got nothing else to pray about. Ha.

Anyway, the exciting part is that I'm going with my oldest sister Rayna. I'm just tagging along really. This is her cruise to do as a way to commemorate the memory of her husband Paul, who she traveled the world with (and every corner of the U.S. as well). I wasn't her first choice as a plus-one, but I was first on the waiting list. Not kidding. In the end, all the matters is I am going to go and be a supportive sister.

And just force myself to enjoy traveling from San Juan to five other Caribbean islands – including Aruba and St. Lucia (she the Scandinavian goddess of light, you know). It's going to be tough. I'll be strong so we'll both get through it. 

I have never been on a cruise or to any island except a brief stay in the Bahamas. Excited about that. A little nervous about how my body handles cruises (I mean I can kayak, so I can deal with a little rocking motion.) 

But mostly, just grateful and blessed to be a part of this new memory with my sister while she recalls many of hers sailing the high seas with her hubby, best friend, and adventure partner!

#TakeTheTrip

Doing the Door

In two words, Door County is a photographer's paradise. I definitely took my share of photos over the past two days. I was thinking a lot of my lens-loving siblings while I was there.

I'd see something in nature and think: "Ron would take a nice picture of that." Or we'd drive by an old boat among weeds and wildflowers and I'd say: "Now Rayna would stop and take a picture of that." But I found enough subjects on my own -- and was pretty pleased with a lot of my results. Some highlights:

The golf course we played Sunday was called The Orchards at Egg Harbor. The fairways were lined with cherry and apple orchards. That was different -- at least we could find our errant balls!

We crossed the ferry to Washington Island in the late afternoon. I had just been reading that Door County was named after the Native American translation: Death's Door. That's what they called the land mass because the treacherous waters sunk so many of their canoes between the islands and the mainland. I was glad to arrive safely!

Thanks to the tourist tips from the owners of the inn, we found a special park with a beach filled with water-smoothed rocks. It is such an unusual shoreline -- and in need of protection and preservation -- that anyone caught taking a rock from there is subject to a $250 fine!

The inn owners also pointed out the perfect spot on the island to be at 8 p.m. for the sunset. Looking at the photo above, wouldn't you agree? It was like watching a ball of fire slowly lower itself into the water and disappear over the edge of the Earth. Very cool to be in the right place at the right time!

Today's golf course was quite memorable. Not only did I get my best score of the summer so far, the course offered spectacular views of Egg Harbor (right). It was a unique layout. There were times when we trekked that cart up the entire steep bluff, then shot the ball down to the green on the bottom. Other times we were right along the shoreline. Beautiful! I normally don't take my camera golfing, but I'm glad I did!

For only being gone 36 hours, we took in a lot, yet thankfully managed to relax. And, as Jim pointed out, we filled a couple scrapbook pages! (See why I love him so much?)