Weekend in SF

Last weekend I went to SF with Dave to see Alcatraz, ride bikes over the Golden Gate Bridge, and go to the Raiders/Chargers football game (yes, I survived to tell about it!)

The ferry ride over to Alcatraz was about 20 minutes, and we got some great photos of the Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, and the island. We learned Alcatraz was a penitentiary until 1963 when it closed and then became a museum for the public (and the star of "The Rock"). One of the famous inmates was Machine Gun Kelly - I don't remember much about him, but hey, his name was Kelly - cool! I also learned that the guards' families lived on the island with them, and that the children grew up playing on a cement playground facing the city. They interviewed some of these children, and they said they actually loved growing up on Alcatraz.

After getting back to SF, we had lunch in the Wharf (chowda and shrimp) then rented bikes to ride over the Golden Gate Bridge. We rode about an hour to the bridge, taking tons of pictures along the way (along with getting sweaty and dirty!) I never knew there was such a nice park under the bridge, with a beach and large beautiful grassy areas for bbq's and birthday parties.

In order to try and make a ferry back to the Wharf, Dave and I raced across the bridge in an attempt to make it to Sausalito by 4:30. With ten minutes left to make it there, we took a wrong turn down hill at 40 mph, and quickly realized we weren't going to be getting back to the Wharf on that ferry! As they say, if you're 1 minute late to the ferry, you're 59 minutes early for the next one :-)

So, as Dave said, we "turned lemons into lemonade," and rode all the way back to the Wharf. As an aside, the wind was never at our backs, and I swear it was uphill both ways!

Saturday night I met Dave's college friend Jeff and his fiance Molly, who let us stay at their place near Coit Tower. We had the best dinner - crab and Caeser salad with garlic bread, and then I enjoyed the rest of the night getting to know his friends.

Sunday we went to Oakland to meet up with Dave's friend's sister and brother-in-law (you follow that?) who had hooked us up with 2 tickets to the Raiders/Chargers game. Let's just say after 8 Raider themed Harley Davidsons in the parking lot and thousands of crazy pirate looking fans, we found our seats in McAfee stadium. I can't believe we ended up winning that game after the 0-15 first half - we didn't wear Bolt clothing, but it was still apparent we were Chargers fans....I'm just glad we made it out of there alive!

This was a great way to spend my last weekend in the Bay Area!