We did it! We escaped Azkaban…I mean Alcatraz! Haha! Julia kept accidentally calling it Azkaban. Such is the result of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series, which we loved. But anyway…

Our Alcatraz City Tour left at 8:45 a.m., which was a piece of cake for us since we were still on east coast time being our first full day in Cali. We hiked from our stay at the Hilton Downtown – Financial District to Pier 33. The sky was gray and the wind whipped around us as we cruised across the bay. The view of San Francisco was quite a sight.

The smell of bird doo hits you the closer you approach “the Rock.” I mean – for real! What used to be a prison for the country’s hardest criminals is now a bird sanctuary. Consider yourself lucky – very lucky – if you don’t get poop spatter on you.

This island used to be to be a fort, a military prison and a maximum security federal penitentiary. It closed its doors in 1963 and was left pretty much vacant until in 1969, the Indians of All Tribes occupied the island for nineteen (19) months in honor of freedom and Native American civil rights. The government denied the Indians right to this island and made Alcatraz a national park. But the Native American’s left their mark in various ways. Because of them, the island – once decaying and succumbing to the elements – is now preserved…for the most part.

Though you can meander around the island and envision what it might have been like in the 1950s, the cellhouse is the only location you can actually tour. We did the audio tour. You can download it on your phone or pick up one of their handheld devices to guide you through the Broadway and Michigan Avenue cell blocks to the recreation yard and the dining hall.

We heard stories of Al Capone (aka Scarface) and Robert “The Birdman” Stroud. We entered Cell Block “D” and a cell once used for solitary confinement. We learned about the three men who escaped Alcatraz. Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin posed fake heads in their beds and dug holes in the concrete walls with spoons to escape. None of the three escapees were ever located. They are still considered fugitives. Did they swim across the cold bay waters to land? Did they get eaten by sharks or drown? Was someone waiting in the bay to take them to freedom? We don’t know.

I’d highly recommend a visit to “the Rock.” There’s history. There’s adventure. There’s birds…everywhere.