I spent a few days at the end of June in San Francisco before continuing on to other areas of the west coast. I loved San Francisco and had a general idea of what I wanted to do which included Alcatraz Island and whale watching.
My first day included breakfast / coffee at Sight Glass Coffee which was around the corner from the Airbnb I was staying at. They were roasting their own beans and there was already a lineup to get coffee when I showed up first thing in the morning. Next stop was Alcatraz Island.
I made my way to Pier 33 to take the ferry that was going to take me to Alcatraz. I bought by tickets through Alcatraz Cruises well before my trip so I didn’t need to worry about doing rush tickets or not being able to see Alcatraz.
I lucked out during my visit as a former prisoner was on the island promoting his book and explained a little bit about his time at the prison. He explained most of the inmates were sent to Alcatraz due to misbehavior at other prisons. He happened to escape three times previously from other prisons before being sent to Alcatraz. Along with this former prisoner giving some highlights, I briefly joined a walking tour which explained some of the wildlife on the island and the nesting habits of some of the birds who inhabit the island. I ended up wandering off to do the audio tour of the prison which was fascinating.
All-in-all I spent a good chunk of my morning on the island. I was in the second batch of people that went across and it was perfect timing before the crowds began showing up later in the day.
I purchased the 48-hour hop-on-hop-off bus ticket so that it would make my transportation around the city a lot easier. So I walked over to Fisherman’s Wharf to look around before heading over to the hop-on-hop-off main office to pick up my ticket and begin my bus ride around town. I did almost the full loop before getting off at Alamo Square as this was a short walk to “Postcard Row” where the “Full House” home is in their opening credits. I walked around the area and enjoyed the scenery before I headed back the bus stop.
I ended up backed at the beginning of the loop and tried In-n-Out burger before starting the evening tour. I learned a lot on the evening tour as well. We went over to Treasure Island where some of scenes from Indiana Jones was filmed and drive took us through Nob Hill as well where the tour guide pointed some of her favourite buildings and inexpensive restaurants / shops nearby.
So far I was off to a good start to my vacation.
