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.

West Coast Vibes

What a whirlwind of a work week. I mean I say that often, but at least this time there was some scenery. Our Marketing 6-Pack flew out at 7 a.m. Monday from Mosinee to San Diego. Our mission was almost impossible. Capturing two customer testimonial videos in 2 1/2 days – when normally that's what we need for just one.

But you know what's motivating? Palm trees! Whether it's Florida, Texas, Arizona, or California, they always put me in a good mood.

I mean a productive mood. This was a work trip after all! We seriously were pretty busy with the two clients from Monday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon, but we did have a few hours in the evening to see a little bit of southern California – which, like Wisconsin, was going through a bit of a heat wave.

On Monday night, we went out to get dinner and stopped by the Sunset Cliffs area by the Pacific Ocean on the way...

A prickly Mickey Mouse out there!

It was very scenic. And we couldn't find a parking place anywhere near the dozens of restaurants, so we ate back at the hotel in San Diego-Mission Valley. 

On Tuesday, after we were done videoing our client, we all went to lunch. As soon as I saw one of the guys had a Porsche, I called shot-gun!

I mean it wasn't a sport Porsche Cayenne, but who cares? When would I ever be able to ride in one?

 

Naturally I called Carter the minute we hit the highway to remind him what a cool mom he has. And that the Porsh-a has a bit more pick-up than our Hondas! Pretty cool.

And frankly, you needed pick-up and super brakes for the crazy San Diego traffic. Yes, small-town Midwestern folks, that's 5 lanes each direction. Uff da. I was glad I didn't have to drive one of our two mini-van rentals. Being navigator was stressful enough!

After a successful day Tuesday, we took our client out to eat on Coronado Island, across the San Diego bay.

It required traversing a very long and very high bridge so I distracted myself snapping pictures of the harbor out my window.

Peohie's was a pretty nice place, right on the water. We could see naval ships and the entire San Diego skyline.

And watch the sun set. It was spectacular.

Basically, I felt like I was part of the Top Gun movie and I couldn't get enough of it!

This is the bridge we crossed – with the gorgeous almost full moon!

Let me impress my new friends with a close-up from my phone! 

Pretty cool, eh?

Of course, there were a few not-so-cool places. Like the neighborhood where we needed to get through a prison-looking gate. And the fact there was a homeless encampment in the trees and shrubs outside our hotel. It's not all Hollywood on the West Coast!

After we wrapped all the work up Wednesday, we headed down to the famous Gaslamp District for dinner. I kept calling it the Gaslight District, but I'm sure that has an entirely different meaning.

Pretty cool area. After dinner, we ended up at a Coin-Op Arcade for our entertainment. Fun times.

Time definitely went fast! And just when I was getting used to Pacific Time, it was over. We met in the lobby Thursday morning before 8 a.m. to head to the airport. Kind of sad when one whole day was basically traveling!

Had a layover in Minnesota. Hello, Twins Territory! And actually was able to start my Fantasy Football draft before boarding. Only got a few picks in and the rest was the dreaded auto-draft, which got me 3 kickers and no backup QB. Uff da.

Sunset was gorgeous as we left Minnesota.

Then that Blue Moon – which looked more like a Harvest Moon – guided us into Wisconsin. 

Today it was tough to get up on Central Time and work. Thankfully from home since I didn't get around to taking a shower until lunchtime! Might take me one more day to switch my West Coast vibes to Midwest vibes. Thank goodness for the long weekend.

Have a safe and enjoyable Labor Day Weekend!!