Kayla's visit to San Francisco - part 2

We were excited to finally get to take a tour of Alcatraz after looking at the island from almost every direction in recent months.  Check out the ferry solar:

The gull seems to like it:

First stop at Alcatraz - picking up our prison garb:

Then time for a shower:

The self-guided audio tour was excellent, taking us all through the cells and describing various events over the years:

Not the Hilton, or any other hotel for that matter:

Al Capone and friends:

D block and the isolation cells:

A view back toward civilization:

A few guillemots hanging out:

Angel Island to the north:

An art installation by Ai Weiwei, made of legos and relating to freedom of expression and human rights:

Beautiful dragon by Ai Weiwei:

Back on the mainland, taking a fun drive down Lombard Street (the curvy part):

Kayla found these interesting mosaic steps, south of Golden Gate Park - nice!

Good view toward the Pacific, although some low clouds reduced out ability to see it:

Pretty tiles:

At the deYoung museum, always love a Claes Oldenburg piece:

Apples on the lawn:

Nice Remington:

And a good view of Golden Gate Park from the top of the museum tower, that was pretty cool:

John enjoying Haight-Ashbury:

We got a quick peak at the Cable Car Museum but it closed earlier than expected.  At least we got to see the big wheels spinning and the cables flying through:

Cable car traffic:

Kip hosted us on a "morning at Google", including a walk across the Google Gate Bridge:

Pretty lawn:

Yay for Google!  Thanks Kip!  :)

It was an excellent few days, thank y'all for visiting!

Kayla's visit to San Francisco - part 1

Our niece Kayla and John's parents came to visit!  It was Kayla's graduation trip, and we were excited to be a part of it.  It was a chock-full few days of San Francisco sights.

Starting with a drive up to the viewpoint on Twin Peaks:

Great overview of the city (also looks amazing at night):

Checking out the swing in Billy Goat Hill park:

Timing was good for seeing the Chinese New Year parade, which was quite a thing to watch although a challenge with all the crowds:

We got slightly glitter-bombed...

One of the excellent dragon puppets:

Brief detour for me on Sunday - John took the gang to see Fisherman's Wharf, sea lions, cable car rides, Musee Mechanique, and Ghirardelli, while I did a long run from Mountain View to the southernmost BART station at Millbrae.  Here are my photos...

The Oracle yacht in the lake on the Oracle campus - how cool!  I would have loved to see the races when they were in San Francisco Bay.

Beach on the Bay:

San Mateo bridge, viewed while running on the Belmont Slough trail around Foster City (very pretty area):

One of many marshes:

I took the subway into town and met up with everyone for sushi supper.  Good stuff.

Monday morning we started with breakfast at Home Plate (most delicious), then walked out to find the Wave Organ sculpture:

Turns out it works a lot better at high tide, then you can hear sounds in the tubes.  Ah well, next time.

A glimpse of Alcatraz Island, with Angel Island off to the left:

A beach and a bridge:

Nice morning view of the city:

Getting closer to the bridge...

"GGB" and lovely flowers:

On the bridge!  Hi Jerry!

We've now walked on the northern and southern ends.  Someday we'll make it all the way across on foot...

Clarion Alley in the Mission District, amazing murals:

The bears on the right were a checkpoint in a Terraloco race we did a couple months ago:

Next up - heading to prison...