San Francisco Day 3: Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf, and the Golden Gate Bridge

We bought tickets to tour Alcatraz weeks beforehand, so we were extra excited for this part of the trip.  The kids loved riding a ferry to the island...

As we were on the ferry, we got some great views of San Francisco... and lucky for us, it wasn't a foggy day!

Once we got off the boat, we were given some instructions as to what there was to see on the island, and then we were set free to wander where we wanted.  There was a video on the history of Alcatraz, which was very interesting - after the video we explored the museum rooms...

The architecture inside the buildings was so interesting and sometimes creepy :)

Outside, there were beautiful flower gardens... there used to be small homes (for the families of the prison employees) in the areas where the gardens were...

After exploring a bit outside, we headed to the cell building for an audio tour of the actual prison.  We really enjoyed the tour - it was very well done and even the kids got a lot out of it.  Becca, in particular was so into the audio tour - she kept trying to keep us on track and pointing to where we were supposed to look next...

This is the kitchen - you can see the cupboard open where the cooks would keep the knives.  The cupboard was kept locked when not in use, and they even had the silhouettes for each of the knives painted inside the cupboard, so that they could see quickly if something was missing.  Hardcore security was in force at this place!

 Since we were in the area, after getting back to the mainland after our tour of Alcatraz, we wandered over to Fisherman's Wharf for lunch.  We ate at a really delicious fish place.  I didn't used to like fish, but now I do!

I don't recall knowing that Jake was holding his shirt up when we took this picture...

This is what Emma's heaven looks like...

The sea lions were so funny... there were so many of them and they were so noisy.  Jake initially was calling them dolphins, until we corrected him.  :)

Since the sky was so clear, it was the perfect day to visit the Golden Gate Bridge...

On the way back to the hotel we drove down the famous Lombard Street.  The landscaping and the homes lining the street were beautiful, but I don't think I'd want to live on that street because it was swarming with tourists (including us!)...

Next up: Japanese Tea Garden and Lake Tahoe!