San Francisco Trip - Day 2

When I started talking to people about our trip to San Francisco everyone told me to make time for Alcatraz. I knew I really wanted to visit this attraction and get the full experience of the tour and learning all of the history.  Lucky for us on Day 2 the group we were with had planned for a night tour and party on Alcatraz.  

We spent the day switching hotels, having lunch, and walking around a bit because we were scheduled to leave late afternoon from our hotel.  We took the ferry over and the views were so beautiful.  The sun was setting and seeing the city and the bridges all lit up was such a treat.  

When we arrived on Alcatraz we were met with some of the park rangers that gave us a little history and then we were broken into groups to get our night tour.

I was fine walking around and learning about the history.  Even seeing some of the cells was OK, but then they started talking about how the prisoners escaped it started to get creepy.  They had their cells set up the way they looked when they passed the guard inspections each evening while they were planning their escape and that was pretty creepy.  Then some of the park rangers showed us how the guards opened and closed the cell bars and that loud clanging that repeatedly happened was what put me over the edge!  I got chills and was ready to get outside and get some fresh air.  Yikes!  It was pretty spooky, but I did love learning about the history!

Next we were guided down the other side of the island and saw more gorgeous views as we were taken to the party.  They had set up the industrial building (where the prisoners worked on the island) for a dinner and concert.

There were tons of food stations set up and we loved the tacos and pasta stations best.  After dinner was a real treat...Randy Houser giving an acoustic concert!  We love him and love his hit song, "We Went" right now so I was so excited to see him perform.  Hudson loves that song so I videoed and sent it to him. :-)  

There weren't a ton of country music fans there so we were able to get right up front for a close-up view of the concert.  As soon as he sang a Garth Brooks song though, the place all broke into song!  It was so fun!  

Finally it was time to head back to the mainland so we boarded the ferry again.  This time on our way back we saw fireworks as we were coming into the pier, which was the perfect way to end the night!