Catching Up: Part 1 - Alcatraz

Hey guys!

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything for a while, I haven't had access to the internet from my laptop for a couple of weeks. There was some unforeseen drama in San Francisco during my last week there which meant that I didn't have a lot of time to post anything, but I'm here now, and I'm excited to share with you my two favourite destinations of the trip so far - Alcatraz, and Yosemite National Park. I have a feeling I'm going to get carried away with Alcatraz, so I'm going to do this in a two-part thing over two days. I'll make it worth the wait. I'll reward you with both education AND tales of me getting into stupid situations.

HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:

* A deadly rattlesnake (And three other snakes)
* A chipmunk (Not really a highlight but I totally saw one and it was cute)
* The Morgue Incident (We got locked in a morgue, you'll want to stick around for that story)
* Scenery of such incredible beauty that it starts to come off as obnoxious (Yosemite is ridiculous)
* That one time I almost lost my left eyeball to an insect (Just embarrassing, but the photos are funny)

But, before we get to that story, gotta do Alcatraz.

THE ROCK.
So, Alcatraz. I'm sure I don't have to explain what Alcatraz is. But in case you don't know, it's this old thing:

I've wanted to go there since I was about six years old, because apparently my only interests as a young child were dinosaurs, dogs, and maximum security Federal island prisons in North America. That's a normal interest for little girls, right?
I remember seeing a show on an escape from Alcatraz when I was young, and it fascinated me. I went through a phase when I was about twelve where I read a whole heap of books on the subject, and then when I was a teenager, Mythbusters did an episode where they tested the myth of the June 1962 escape - not whether or not the three men (Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin) escaped the island, because there is no doubt that they did, but whether they survived the freezing cold water and dangerous tides and made it to the mainland. They found it plausible, which I thought/think is the coolest thing ever.

When I decided I was going to go to San Francisco, Alcatraz was the first place I thought of that I HAD to visit. It just happened to be my luck that I met this badass a couple of months into planning the trip.

Of all the friends Kelly met on exchange who could have come to Australia to visit her, I became friends with the one who works on Alcatraz and loves me enough to give me a personal tour, plus access into all of the cool, out-of-bounds areas of the prison. How lucky can you get? What would I do without this girl?
Putting it out there now, Allison is the best tour guide ever. In general, just around San Francisco and all the places she took me, she was pretty good. But on Alcatraz, she was in her element. She knows her stuff. And by "her stuff", I mean almost anything you could possibly want to know about the island, and many, many things you wouldn't have ever known had she not enthusiastically explained them to you in great detail. I loved it.

Allison works the night tour, so we didn't catch the ferry out to the island till about 4pm, but it was a gorgeous day and the view of the city from the water was so pretty. We arrived on the island and put our stuff away in the office that the volunteers and rangers and such use, and Allison took me around to a bunch of roped off areas and into a whole bunch of buildings that the other tourists didn't get to go into, explaining what every building was and pointing out little details of things. I'd educate you too, but I'm scared of getting my facts wrong, so instead here's a bunch of photos of cool things I saw, with tiny descriptions of what I remember. Sorry, Allison, if I get stuff wrong:

Almost everything metal on the island is rusted. Probably because the prison is on an island in the middle of a salt water bay. I'm no scientist, but I'd bet that's the reason. The rust made everything look super awesome and run down, such as this door.

Alcatraz is known best for the years it was a Federal Prison, but it has gone through a whole bunch of different stages of occupation and use, none of which I knew before Allison told me.This particular building was around when Alcatraz was being used as a fortress during the Civil War. It used to have a drawbridge in it, which is pretty cool. 

 This obviously run down area used to be used by the guards who worked on the island. The guards and their families, including children, lived on Alcatraz in housing about fifty meters from the prison itself. I like it because it looks like something that Ezio could run across in Assassins Creed (Playstation/Xbox people will understand).

 Another phase that Alcatraz went through (the most recent one before it came under the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy) was an Indian Occupation, where Native Americans occupied the island between 1969 and 1971. This graffiti on the water tank is from that time.

This is the drainage table inside the morgue we almost got locked in. The dead body would be placed on the table, and the blood from it would run into the indented lines and drain through the hole in the middle into a bucket underneath the table. 

 We managed to get locked in that morgue. For about ten seconds, but still. It was locked up so that regular tourists couldn't get inside it, but they could look in through a clear door. Allison, however, had the master key, so she let us both inside to have a look around. Some random tourist saw her going in, and even though Allison was wearing her uniform and closed the door behind her, he decided that he wanted to come inside too. Allison made him go back out, and as he did he closed the door and the bolt that locked it slid into place. He started walking off and Allison had to call him back and get him to unlock it, and it was a tiny bit awkward and hilarious. The above photo was taken right outside the morgue, after we were safely back outside.

 This is what a typical cell looks like. They're really small and gross looking, as you'd expect.

 These particular cells were the original ones used, on the third floor. Bit of a design flaw - the flat bars are structurally weak, and prisoners could literally break out of them with a shoestring, if they looped them around the bars and got up enough friction.

 See that hole in the roof? That's where the 1962 prison escape occurred. The three prisoners who escaped, Frank Morris, and John and Clarence Anglin, stood exactly where I stood up there. History! So cool! They climbed up the pipes in the back of their cells to get up there.

 This is one of the cells that the men escaped from. They dug around the edge of the ventilation shafts in their cells with spoons for about a year to get them large enough to fit through. They covered up the damage with cardboard covers painted green to match the walls, like the one in this photo. They also made dummy heads out of soap, toilet paper, and real hair to make it look like they were still in their beds while they escaped.

 

 The pockmarks in the floor in this photo are from hand grenades thrown into the prison by guards and Marines during The Battle Of Alcatraz, which was the result of a failed prison escape. Several prisoners assaulted guards, stole their keys, and released about a dozen other prisoners, only to find that they couldn't actually escape the cell block because the lock for the door to get outside was jammed. The prisoners took guards hostage, shot several, killed one, and held their own against guards and Marines for two days, before the ringleaders were shot and killed. 

 This is the hospital on Alcatraz. Prisoners never went to the mainland to receive medical treatment. Operations were carried out on the island, as were x-rays. Prisoners could recover in the hospital cells.

 This is just pretty.

 So is this.

  And this.

 

 This is the exercise yard looking back towards the cell block. They had a baseball field and everything.

 Casual gorgeous view of the city at twilight. This is getting less and less educational.

 This is the cell block building, it's located right in the middle of the island. Apparently you could hear the prisoners from the officer's housing.

 The Natives were really pissed off during the occupation, and they broke a lot of stuff on the island. There's a lot of damage to buildings, particularly to windows such as these, from the occupation. There's also a fair amount of graffiti from the occupation too. It just makes the place look extra cool, with broken windows all over the place.

 Alcatraz had its own personal fire engine, and it lives in a building they use for storage. I don't think it was ever used to fight an actual fire. It's gorgeous, I think it should be on display for everyone. But then again, if it was, I probably wouldn't have been able to sit in it like I did. Once again, thanks Allison for showing it to me.

 The master keys! They jangled on Allison's belt and she looked so official with them. She let me lock and unlock doors all around the place. Fun fact - They sell replica keys at the gift shop, that obviously aren't a match for the real keys. That wasn't always the case though. When they were first selling them, for about $10 mind you, they were exact replicas. So they were selling random members of the public working prison keys for $10. That wouldn't cause that much damage on a closed down prison, but it turns out other prisons that were still operating were using the same keys. 'Merica. Logic? There is none.

 This is a solitary confinement cell. Allison closed me in this one for 30 seconds. You can't see anything, even when your eyes adjust to the darkness. All you can hear is your own footsteps. I had to use my hands to guide me against the wall so I could move around the room. Prisoners had to sit on the floor all day, not being able to see or do anything. Their beds were taken out of the cell until it was time to sleep, so they couldn't even be comfortable while doing it. One prisoner said that he used to unpin a button and throw it around the room, listening to it clatter and then finding it again, just to pass the time. It wasn't scary to be in there, but I can tell how after a few days you'd learn to hate the place.

 This is, once again, a pretty view. But, it's a pretty view from the top of the lighthouse, another area closed off to the public. It was probably my favourite part of the whole experience - the view from up there was incredible. It was so windy but the world was gorgeous, and watching the sunset from the highest point on the island was brilliant. 

Look at the joy on my face. Best tour guide ever, best lighthouse ever.

 This is the sign that greets you as you arrive on the island. It looks creepiest at night, when we left.

So, that was Alcatraz. If you're a history nerd like I am, it is well worth the trip. And if you're not a history nerd, it's still a great place to visit if you're ever in San Francisco. Just make sure that you get an actual tour to the Island - there is only one company that has the rights to land there, so there are several other companies that just take you out on a ferry and circle the island at a distance.

I'm so lucky I had Allison to take me to all the cool areas she did. I highly recommend doing the audio tour of the prison too. I didn't get to finish mine or do it in order because Allison kidnapped me halfway through to take me to see a photo with all of the officers that a prisoner had snuck into the background of (photo bombing before it was cool), but it's really well done with voice actors and a planned route to take you around the cell block and the yard.

FOR THE RECORD:

I'm not actually in California anymore, I've been living in Philadelphia with Allegra for a week now. That's how far behind I am. I'll get right onto writing about Yosemite tomorrow, and it'll be swell.

I leave you with this photo from Alcatraz.

Miss you all, love you lots,

Bridie.