Sonoma trip, day 3

We had some coffee and scones at the hotel before we hopped in the car for a ride back to San Francisco. This time crossing the Golden Gate bridge meant a $6 toll. The view was worth it. We parked at Fisherman's Wharf, got tickets to Alcatraz and immediately got on the ferry to the island. The day was overcast and chilly and on the island the weather seems much more intense so the first thing to do was get Jeff a hat. There was no reason for him to be uncomfortably cold while we were touring the prison. It is cold and dank in there on a nice day so it was definitely a necessary purchase.


We took the walk up to the top of the hill where the tour started. The staff does warn you that it's equivalent to walking up 13 flights of steps so we did have to stop so Jeff could catch his breath, even in good health his heart disease is sometimes apparent. We got our headphones and started through the tour. There is so much history on this one little island and it is such an interesting story that a few hours go by pretty rapidly. We finished the walking tour then took a walk through the part of the island that is normally closed. Since we were there off season, the birds were not migrating to the island so they could open up many of the paths that were normally closed to the public.

After Alcatraz we took the ferry back to Fisherman's Wharf for a late lunch at Alioto's Fish Grotto. Jeff was in seafood heaven. As we sat at our table, we watched the seal frolick in the water right outside of our window. Another first, I had never seen seals outside of a zoo before. They were beautiful creatures.

It was raining making it tough to walk the piers so we stopped at the Harley Davidson store and bought some San Francisco patches, then we went to the Hard Rock Cafe so I could add another guitar pin to my collection. We got out of San Francisco a little late so we got stuck in some rush hour traffic making the trek back to Rohnert Park somewhat longer. Since we were both exhausted from another day outdoors, we stopped at the Pacfic Market for some deli sandwiches and snacks to finish out the day.