Wednesday July 17, 2002 – Slept in a bit today and got up around 9:30 read the paper and had breakfast then I headed out with Josie to Barnes & Noble to get a copy of Poor Leo’s 2002 Computer Almanac for him to sign at the studio tomorrow. We got back and were met shortly by Mom & Dad who had also gone out and about in the morning. We all walked down to the Alcatraz tour pier where we boarded an 11:45 ferry with our pre-purchased tickets. We got to the island and first watched a brief video about its history ranging from military fort to prison and finally a national park. Our tickets also included a self-guided audio tour of the cell house. We completed that and then I was able to walk around the island and take a number of pictures of both the prison itself and views of the bay, bridges and city. Some of the pictures should come out quite interesting with the contrast of the freedom the Golden Gate Bridge gave to San Francisco with the chain link fencing of Alcatraz. I hope they turn out as well as they looked when I shot them. After returning to the wharf we took the cable car up to the Cable Car Museum where we got to see history in motion, literally as the power plant still produced power for the four remaining cable car lines in the city. We walked down and through Chinatown where we found a restaurant and stopped for dinner. Our next stop was to take the bus down to Market Street and see the Sony Metrion shopping/entertainment complex, after a walk through of that we headed back to the old Ghiradeli chocolate factory where we got some free samples and purchased some chocolate to eat later tonight. We walked back to the hotel where Anna, Mom and I continued on to Pier 39, which is a shopping and entertainment pier, in search of a San Francisco polo style shirt for me. We found one and then headed back to the hotel where the others had just started watching A View To A Kill which of course centers around Silicon Valley and San Francisco. We ate our chocolate and all had some milk during the movie. Tomorrow our only real plan is to see the Golden Gate Bridge up close and possibly walk across. Anna and I will be visiting the TechTV studios again to see broadcasts of Call For Help and The ScreenSavers then we leave San Francisco behind as we continue down California stopping for the night in Silicon Valley.
I found it! Thanks, Ben. It was fun to read your musings. It sounds like you had a good time and that means a lot to me, particularly when I know you had to miss out on some interesting stuff here at home. You were fun to have along too. Love, Mom