Our first stop was Pier 33 for a tour of Alcatraz at 9:30am. We were the second tour to the day and the place was crowded with people arriving early so they don't miss the boat; remember if you plan to visit buy your tickets early. The view as we are arriving to the island where Alcatraz is located . . .
I thought it looked 'nice' and when you get there it looks very run down and not fun at all . . . I know when is life behind bars 'fun' . . . and life on the inside doesn't look really that good or roomy either but some cells had nice views . . .
. . . one thing I noticed inside some of the staged cells were paint by numbers which I thought was sort of funny. The National Parks Service has a 'Junior Ranger' program at some of the parks and Alcatraz was one of them. I got the workbook for Colin and we all completed it. Some of the stuff was a little hard for a kid his age but it was fun and at the end he earned a Junior Ranger badge . . . he was SO excited!
We had a tasty lunch at Fisherman's Wharf . . . most of the restaurants had outside kitchens serving up fresh seafood. We had some of the best fried shrimp ever; EVER! I intended to snap a photo but was afraid that everyone else would eat all the shrimp so I wouldn't stop eating either!
Our stomachs were too full to hike uphill so we took a trolley car ride . . .
. . . we stopped at the Cable Car Museum. What I did not realize was it was the actual place that controlled all the cars. It was worth the visit and FREE but the smell sure did give me a headache so we didn't stay too long!
It was time to get back on the road, and I was under the impression it would all be down hill walking from here . . . WRONG! WOW, these are some of the steepest streets I have ever walked and my legs were hurting! We finally made it to Chinatown. I loved the street lights.
We were trying to locate a fortune cookie bakery when we heard firecrackers and loud drums. We followed the noise and came upon a small group watching this . . .
. . . of course we had no idea what they were celebrating but it was fun to watch. We got back on track and headed to the fortune cookie factory . . .
. . . no photos allowed but it was an interesting 10 minute stop. The lady invited us back to watch the machine making the cookies. She was very nice and explained the process. Not sure who had the bright idea to WALK/HIKE to the top of Coit Tower, 
but thankfully it had an elevator that took you up to the very top . . . oh I forgot it was my bright idea . . . the views were amazing,
BUT it was a lot of UPHILL walking and I'm certain I said a few not so nice words too. I was hungry and requested a return trip to Fisherman's Wharf for some more shrimp. We also purchased a beverage that was served in brown paper bag, literally. I got a good laugh but saw many others with them too. The young one was become restless (I can't blame him) so we went to visit the Pampanito submarine.
We decided to go back to hotel for rest before dinner which in hind sight made it a million times harder to get back out for dinner. It is always nice to just kick off your shoes and relax for a few minutes. Guess what we had for dinner? You guessed it, crab. I don't know if I can ever eat crab outside of a seaside city. It was great. We had a nice table that was overlooking the harbor and right outside was the Bushman who would scare unsuspecting people as they walked by . . . he really was funny. It was time to head back to the hotel to pack our bags for our return home in the morning. It was a great week with the best weather too!
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