Touring Alcatraz

Monday morning in San Francisco, Aimée and I caught the street car to Fisherman's Wharf for our sailing to Alcatraz Island, one of the popular attractions in the city. Before this journey, I had not realized that Alcatraz is THAT close to the city - indeed it is a 12 minute boat ride. The island has served a variety of uses over the years including military prison and an American Indian occupation (1964 and 1969 to 1971).

One statement about Alcatraz I saw that day was, "If you break the rules, you go to prison. If you break the prison rules, you go to Alcatraz." Indeed as a penitentiary, it housed some fierce dudes. It was a federal prison from 1934 to 1963.

The island was named by a Spanish explorer who saw the pelicans and called it, "Isla de los Alcatraces."

Our tour began at the dock with an introduction and stories by the Ranger. Apparently the first prisoner on Alcatraz was a Canadian from Montreal. Oh, our rowdy ancestors. From the landing area, we saw a guard tower - there used to be 6 on the island.



From there, up we went to see the features of the island - such as the cellhouse, warden's house, morgue, barracks, and various other buildings. One of the focal points is an audio tour of the cellhouse; at the beginning, each person gets a headset and MP3 player and listens to the stories and instructions. At any point, a person can pause the tour. We got to see the cells:



And Cell Block D (solitary confinement)...



This is definitely not her kind of place.

The prisoners spent their time:
- in a regimented way - for example, 20 minutes for meals, and did the same thing every day at the same time (not a good place for a Perceiving personality type).
- knitting, painting, writing.
- reading books!



To see a larger image, click in the centre of the picture.



The civilian population of "The Rock" was about 200 people, which included staff and their families. There were enough apartments and cottages for 60 families and 10 bachelors. At times there were up to 75 children living on the island; each morning a boat would come and take the children to school in San Francisco, and then they returned home every night. Apparently, the families never locked their doors... egads!

Here is a view of the entire island, from a Golden Gate viewpoint...



not a lot of space for 75 children... The tallest, long building is the cellhouse.

Three hours we wandered around Alcatraz, hearing stories of escape attempts, the famous prisoners, and infamous wardens. It was quite engaging, well put together, and worth the trip. There's lots of humour about the joint...

In the city, we saw t-shirts with this message: The Hotel Alcatraz - Guaranteed Room With a View - 24 Hour Security - Lifetime Accommodation - Catering to Select Clientele - Bars in Every Room - All Drinks Are on the Rocks.

After our tour, we headed back to San Francisco; this was our view of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.



This bridge is a two-tiered (traffic going towards San Francisco are on the up part of the bridge - traffic going to Oakland travel on the deck directly below), toll bridge that is 4.5 miles long. Technically it is two bridges. This was our route to go to the airport in Oakland. Apparently 270,000 vehicles cross this bridge every day!

When we landed, Julie met us - with a plan - adventure 2 of this day to follow....

Do You Know the Way to San José?

A week ago, I was sitting in the HP Pavilion listening and rocking to Tina Turner. John and Martha sat on my right - they had seen Tina in concert 8 times over the years, and had tickets for the following night as well. "If she can do a whole tour," John said, "then we can come two nights."

There was much to see at this concert - on stage and off. The audience was such an array of people - the couple in row ahead of us had just come back from a quiet journey to China - they were in shock in the midst of all this rock and roll; there were groups of gal-pals; one woman left her child and family at home and had come alone (she had apparently found the bar as well); there were many men (Tina had them sing - what's love got to do with it); there were dressed up people with expensive adornments; and mostly there was a whole lot of enthusiastic people.

The show was a massive coordination, with fireworks, shooting flames, acrobatics and platforms that rose up and out into the audience. For the second last song, Nutbush City Limits, Tina was in a "cherry picker" machine that extended out 20 rows into the audience. At some point, she walked the length of the two-foot wide "arm" of the machine and then danced her way back to the end with a basket.

Here is a YouTube view of her on the platform from a previous tour:

Nutbush City Limits

And what a lot of work! We bought the program for the event, and the credits include 18 truck drivers!

Speaking of all the background support, there were a lot of helpers in getting us to Tina. Josh and Al got us to and from the airports safely (thank you!), Ryan met us in Oakland and showed us around San Francisco (thank you!)

The day of the show, Ryan and Julie got us to San José, and now I can assuredly say that I do know the way. San José is one hour from San Francisco, and so once they dropped us off at the Pavilion, they entertained themselves in San José with dining and shopping and text messaging us. At some point, Ryan called and Aimée held up the phone and he heard some of Proud Mary.

And he took pictures for us...



Speaking of pictures, as you can see on the ticket, it explicitly says not to bring in cameras, so we left ours with Ryan. And then when we got seated, we could see that many, many people had cameras. (And Aimée had a picture-taking phone.) The ticket taker said, "oh, yes, small cameras are OK." Note to others: bring your camera.

It was quite the show that you would want to take pictures - Tina is one picture-taking kind of act. On some website, I read a headline, "What's age got to do with it?" Indeed, as you can see, Tina is looking pretty fit... (this picture is from this year's tour)



With dazzling clothing as well, and shoes! She came out with shoes by Christian Louboutin; the signature of his shoes is that they have a red sole. According to a show on Oprah, these are the most comfortable high heels a gal can have. The cost? Let's just say, they are bourgee.

I asked Aimée what was the most surprising part of the show - she said, "That it was so theatrical." For me, I was most surprised (and delighted) to find out that there was no introductory bands/singers - we got 100% Tina. And we got a view of the crowd that was spectacular. 14,000 people (this would be a good deal more than the population of Nelson). Tina is famous for having sold more concert tickets than any other solo performer in music's history. And this all started when she was hired as a back up singer. Clearly that role was too small for her.

We saw her on Day 19 of her tour - she has several more weeks, and then after the new year is heading to Europe. Lots of time to get your tickets. It is definitely worth the trip!

Simply the Best

Tina Turner is AMAZING! Her newest tour is a full blend of her powerful voice, glittery costumes, and delightful theatrics, in the midst of her familiar songs. Memorable songs: Proud Mary (this brought the house to their feet), Simply the Best, We Don't Need Another Hero, What's Love Got to Do With It, Better Be Good to Me...

Actually, they were all memorable.

When the curtains opened, there was a roar from the crowd- I felt a rush of excitement. And then, she was there!

She danced, and she walked the stage; she was lifted in the air on platforms, all of this in several pairs of the most colourful high heels. I doubt that her legs have changed at all in the last 8 years since she did performances - they are compelling, and I am guessing, 100% muscle.

Inspiring - perhaps because of her age (69) or her voice or how she has weaved her way through our lives - a few decades of great dance music - her music has transcended age.

I will always treasure that Aimee and I did this together - what a grand shared memory!

Day Two in San Francisco

Woke up this morning in Ryan's sunny apartment, and then went downtown via Muni - the train system. I have officially taken planes, trains and automobiles on my vacation. We got to see Ryan's new work digs...



Here is the greeting at the door entrance to his work...



Then we were off to the shops. We found our way to cosmetics at Bloomingdales.



And many other shops. I needed to find shoes for the big do tonight. And I was out of facial tissues (yep - the cold is still with me).

After sunset, we all took our cameras and went out into San Francisco at night. This view is from a place called Twin Peaks.



And the Golden Gate Bridge - the bridge that brings us from the north into San Francisco...



View with Ryan's camera...



And here we all are...

8 Hours Later

after I landed in Oakland, I got to see Ryan's new apartment in San Francisco (which is very funky and comfy with the new couch and furnishings).

What happened in those 8 hours is the topic of this posting.

The mother-daughter team are off on their grand adventure!!



Here are our hosts...



who did their move to San Francisco between our big adventure plans and our arrival - gotta love that synchronicity.

I arrived in the mid-afternoon, pre-planned to avoid all the traffic. I had Immediately, I could see we were in a different land...



On our way to San Francisco...



We found our way to the Haight-Ashbury District of San Francisco where we found a delightful Thai place for lunch. Then we were off to the beach...



We came across this gal... (we know this because Julie has gone crabbing with her parents - when you crab, you have to know which are male and female because the female ones over a certain size have to go back into the sea). In the spirit of doing one thing a day that I have never done before, I followed Julie's lead.



And then it did this... (Click on the arrow at the bottom left corner of the screen.)



We saw many gifts from the sea:



Update on the cold: The plane had one stop and the up and down twice was a pain - literally. Luckily when I was in Spokane, Al had given me a blister pack of decongestants - I took another in Portland. There was a moment at the beach where I realized that maybe being in cold ocean water wasn't such a good idea...



If you happen to be one of those people who want to do it all, then walking in the California surf is a GREAT idea!

What I Brought Home

It is always interesting the things there are in the city, and that come home with me. We made a trip to Costco, which I rarely do, and I got BIG things because that is what Costco sells. We stopped in Creston and I got a bag of apples (anybody got any apple recipes because I was shopping as if I had children at home) - perhaps I shall have an apple dinner... appetizers, main course and dessert, made of apples. I also bought a gallon of apple juice - this is a large amount of apple juice.

The most unforgettable thing I brought home was - a cold. Unforgettable because most of my days since I got home on Monday, I have been consumed with sneezing, and blowing and finding quick-fix remedies. Because.... tomorrow I catch a plane, and I don't want a congestion headache on that baby.

Though I technically got this cold in Lethbridge, it really is a Nelson cold, by my figuring. Elizabeth's son also came to visit for the Thanksgiving weekend; the first morning he woke up, he was sniffling and looking dragged out; looks like he brought it with him from Nelson where we both live. So I went away to a new land, and came home with a local cold. Go figure.

Sometimes colds can have their own entertainment. This one has its own pecularities in that I am in a constant state of wanting to sneeze. So as I am talking to people, I am making faces and scrunching up my nose - sometimes I am twitching it, like the daughter in Bewitched. Well, if I had a wish, it would to be not having a twitching nose. I am off now to find a decongestant. In about 12 hours, I will be on a plane. I'll keep you posted.

Wide Open Spaces

For me, the essence of Thanksgiving this last weekend was encapsulated at the Farmer's Market in Lethbridge. How amazing was the stalls of fall harvest - tables full of squashes, corn, potatoes, carrots, onions - well, really, anything you would want! And then some! What an abundance! I had forgotten about that - the prairie harvest - and I was suddenly taken back to the days I went to the farmers in Manitoba and the delight in each discovery! And later, making vats of borscht (the recipe without cream).

Elizabeth invited us for the long weekend for our now annual euchre tournament. I am thankful, too, for having such a great host for a friend. (or is that a great friend for a host?) She prepared a most magnificent feast, for each day that we were there.

Heather, her daughter Madison, Julia and I travelled the 6-hour journey to Lethbridge. We were captivated by the big wide skies:



I had a great time - laughing with friends, playing cards (my memory is that each team I was on won), shopping at Costco (having a conversation with Murray who was selling Shiatsu massage gizmos), tasting foods (the chocolate marble cheesecake was the best), watching the sunset (that is a big deal for a mountain girl), walking on flat land (this cannot be underestimated), and finding a great new coffee place (Cinnamon Bear Bakery & Cafe in Coalman, Alberta).

Indeed the weekend, for me, was all about wide open spaces - the land, and the space inside of me - thankful for all of the gifts in my life.

I am packing to go south - soon I will see both of my children - for this I have tremendous gratitude.

What Autumn Brings

I have been waiting to hear when the fall raspberries are ready for picking, and it was announced earlier this week. I decided that this was a perfect weekend to go to Knapps on Greenbluff to pick raspberries.

On Thursday evening, I was watching Grey's Anatomy with Rose (she has the cable - I still do not) and we saw a preview of the evening news cast. The image on the screen was a car that was wrapped up like a package - the announcer said, "Later, we will show you why it is dangerous to drive on the roads in our area this time of the year."

I went home after Grey's Anatomy(Christine has finally met her match was my conclusion after this premiere), and checked out the news station. A man collided with a moose on I-90. Apparently it is breeding season, and the equivalent of a night club in this animal's world is highways.

So, when I set out on Friday, I paid extra attention to the road. About 11 kilometres from home, there was a moose standing in the middle of the highway.

I do a lot of driving on this highway and I have never seen a moose before. I have even travelled during breeding season, and never saw a moose before. What is a bit curious is that, moose was on my mind. And there it was. I wonder how that happens. You think of a friend, and then they call. You mention a person's name in a conversation, and then the next day you see them.

I drove home from Spokane today, and encountered another traveller.....



This fellow ran parallel to me on the other side of the road as I drove slowly down the highway - while I was fishing out the camera. Then he decided that he would cross the road. He went and hid in the forest. That was it - two moose - both Canadians, I might add. And none, I am delighted to say, had any encounters with my car.

Yesterday, Al and I picked raspberries - they were heavily picked by the time we got there so we worked hard to get our harvest. But we got a generous amount....



The sun was warm, the sky clear, and I could wear sandals. Perfect. Many of the raspberries were not ripe yet, in fact there were quite a few still in bloom. It is a wild idea, to think of raspberries not being ripe enough on September 27th.

Greenbluff is an inspiring place to be - wide open spaces, with lots of trees and plants, and mountains in the background - here is a view from a raspberry patch:

Life on Lummi Island

BJ's plan was to celebrate her birthday with two friends, hanging about and having adventures. The chosen spot was Lummi Island, which is one of the San Juan Islands close to Bellingham. She rented a "cabin" with one grand view...



In the background is Mt Baker, one of those Pacific Northwest volcanoes. I was standing on the deck when I took this picture. Here is one view of the deck...



We spent a lot of time on this deck. The moment we arrived we knew we would. We ate all of our meals on that deck. We had many conversations there. We moved into the sun; we moved out of the sun. And it was the perch for many photos.

Here is the birthday feast:



One day we were sitting at the second table, and heard a lot of racket in the bush below us. I was convinced it was a bear because it was so noisy - bears often make a lot of ruckus when they are in the bush. Here is what we saw from the deck:



We had visitors...




A mom and her baby... How close does one have to be to get this picture?

This close...



I have officially had deer slobber on my hand... That's gotta be one of those MUST DOs before you die...

If you think that's cold....

Nearly a month now since I hung out on the lower mainland and Bellingham area. One day when Aimee was at work and Josh was home from work, Josh and I went touring. I had seen on a map that there was lots of lakes around the Vancouver area, and it piqued my interest. One spot in particular. Aimee had been to Buntzen Lake earlier in the year. Buntzen Lake made a big impression on her, because every time we hung out at a beach when she came to visit the Kootenays, Buntzen Lake was the measuring stick. "Oh," she would say, "this is much warmer than Buntzen Lake." "Oh," she would say, "this is much colder than Buntzen Lake." Well, actually come to think about it, nothing was colder than Buntzen Lake.

Buntzen Lake is not too far from their home. It is a part of Belcarra Regional Park and Buntzen Lake Recreation Area. Both located directly across Burrard Inlet from Barnet Marine Park. Here's the map...


When we got to Buntzen Lake, the sun had already slid behind the mountain, and most of the people there were not IN the water. They were hanging their fishing poles over the dock. Here's Buntzen Lake...



Josh and I continued our exploration. He brought me next to Sasamat Lake, specifically called White Pine Beach. Here's the view...



These beaches are P-O-P-U-L-A-R. Here's a description: "In hot months the beaches at Belcarra's Sasamat Lake and at nearby Buntzen Lake are so popular that park information signs will tell you if Belcarra and Buntzen are full. You can probably sense this on a hot day before you even leave the house. On weekends, unless you get an early start for their beaches, look elsewhere for a destination."

When Josh and I visited, the parking lots and beaches were quite empty. So, if you want to visit there, just ask Josh or I - we'll give you the best visiting times advice if you want to avoid the crowds!

More about White Pine Beach..... "There's one critical difference between this beach and nearby Buntzen Lake: although the sun shines equally warm on both, the water in Buntzen is far colder than in Sasamat."

Aimee, who actually swam in that lake, can attest to that.

Lost In Seattle

Where shall I go today? I asked Ryan as he and Julie headed out the door to Bumbershoot. As Ryan and Julie are moving to San Francisco in 11 days, this is my last visit to this home - what haven't I seen in this city? Volunteer Park was his reply. Seeing as the sun was shining, it seemed like a day not to waste indoors in Seattle. I wrote out the instructions from Google directions, a total of 13 minutes, it declared.

So I set out on my journey, and within minutes of home, knew that something wasn't right. After sliding with the rest of the traffic onto I-5 heading North, and maneuvering my way back through nothing but intuition, I dug out the map.

These are my conclusions after my extensive experience in Seattle streets today:
- Google maps makes directions sound much easier than they are.
- People are great resources - I found a couple in Starbucks who looked at my Google instructions and map, and decided neither would help me. They pointed me in the right direction - go up, they said. The rest was up to me.
- You learn how to pay attention when you go down the same street several times.
- It actually took 45 minutes to find Volunteer Park.
- At two different points, I got onto I-5; one time going north and one time going south.

And then, I realized that sometimes one sets out on a journey only to discover that you end up at a place where you have been before. (I think this is a metaphor for life in general.) A couple years ago, I went to Volunteer Park in the rain, and we walked up the water tower.

At Volunteer Park, I:
- sat in the sun overlooking the water reservoir.
- taught a bored security guard at the Seattle Asian Museum how to conjugate the verb talk in Spanish for the singular pronouns.
- bought an umbrella that is sure to bring me luck - it has bamboo images all over the top. The store also had an umbrella that was red and when it gets wet, cherry blossoms appear all over it.
- saw yet another view of the Space Needle:



One of the features of this park is a sculpture called "Black Sun." Here are the Black Sun and Space Needle together...



And here is a picture of all of us:



I went for a walk and found Lake View Cemetery. Ryan had told me that Bruce Lee (Who is he? I thought) was buried there. There are a lot of graves in Lake View Cemetery, and so I had few hopes of finding it. The cemetery has a great view:



I wandered up one road and down others, decided that it was time to find my way home. How I found Bruce Lee happened this way: I glanced to my left and saw a nondescript tombstone that said Lee, and I crossed the grass (carefully) and saw that it didn't even have a date of birth or death on it. Then something caught my attention and I headed more up the hill and behind a row of small shrubs I saw:



Right beside him is the grave-site of his son,Brandon Lee. Both of these fellows had bizarre deaths.

I left Volunteer Park around 6ish, and found the route home (different than the way there), very easily. Still, there was something nagging me about those Google instructions, and so I went in search of where I went astray. And I found yet another way to get astray, and landed up in downtown Seattle. Just as the movies were being let out.

I have passed by Pontius Street a total of 5 times today. And now I am back home, a little worn from my travels. At some point, I realized I was having fun! Go figure!

Good night Seattle....



and to one red Honda Civic...

An Early Birthday

Nine days to be exact. Spending birthdays together with family can be quite the choreography. We couldn't all be together to celebrate Aimee's exact birthdate but we were able to gather 9 days ahead. Even Julia came along to the event. Unfortunately Josh had to work so didn't hang out with us for the day.

Event 1 of the day was opening of the gift (from Josh)...



This was definitely the most fancy inside of any wallet I have ever seen.

Event 2 was the rousing of the guests....



We signed the cast before we left for:

Event 3: lunch at Milestone's. What was memorable was the assurance that there was no cilantro in the soup. Man, whoever decided that was food rather than a weed.

Event 4: Granville Island - one very groovy place to hang out. There we found the birthday cake. Cakes. Everyone gets to choose their own!!




Event 5: Stanley Park and English Bay: We dried our ocean-dipped and sandy-coated feet sitting on a log and enjoying the sunshine.

Event 6: Dinner at Him's - my favourite sushi hangout on Denman Avenue.

Before:


After:


Event 7: Blowing out the candles and more presents for the birthday girl!!