San Francisco & Reno

Courtney's friend, Anne Sidwell, got married in the Bay Area last month. I met Anne once or twice when I visited Bags in D.C. and was an instant fan. I also knew her brothers, Jarom and Adam, from the singles' ward in L.A. I told Bags that if she came to California for the wedding, I would go and meet her. So we had a sisters' trip. We also decided to tack on a little time in Reno since we were somewhat close and turns out a Greyhound trip from San Francisco to Reno only costs $11.

We flew into SFO on Wednesday, November 18. Bags got in shortly before I did, so she rented the car and picked me up. We headed to our hotel, the Francisco Bay Inn. I had spent way too many hours online looking for a hotel in the weeks before the trip. It seemed nigh unto impossible to find a decent-priced hotel in a decent neighborhood in the city with sufficient and affordable parking. Right before I gave up and booked a place by the airport, I spotted the Francisco Bay Inn. Good price, Marina district (one of the areas cousin Danielle recommended), ample free parking, pretty good reviews. Apparently some of the rooms were recently renovated. Ours certainly was not, but the place was clean, the location was good, there is always parking, and the price was right. We were pleased.

We left our car at the hotel and walked to Nick's Tacos for a late lunch. Baggie photocized the food:

Then we checked into the hotel and went for a little drive. First we visited Coit Tower:

Bags posed by the murals in the bottom:

Thanks to a problem with graffiti, the stairs to the top were closed a few years ago. Now you have to pay and take the elevator to reach the top. We ended up getting there right about sunset. It was crowded, but the views were nice.

We drove to Lombard Street. The tourists there are absolutely ridiculous. They just stand around in the road at the top of the famous part and take pictures. Then there are the trolleys that just sit and block the street for a while:

Pictures taken from a moving car at twilight don't turn out:

Bags took this one after we got to the bottom:

Ghirardelli Square is famous, so it seemed like a good place to hit. Turns out there's not really anything there except two incredibly overpriced Ghirardelli ice cream restaurants. We shared a giant brownie sundae.

There was a Big Eyes gallery across the street. The owner was talkative and interesting, and I enjoyed the gallery because I'd seen the movie. The story of the painter, Margaret Keane, and her husband is fascinating.

We drove around Chinatown before turning in. We passed a street with tons of hanging lanterns we really wanted to drive down. Thanks to the one-way streets, we had the hardest time getting back to it, but we finally succeeded:

Thursday morning we went to Alcatraz. We walked to the pier from our hotel and had just enough time to grab breakfast before boarding the ferry.

It was a beautiful day.

We picked the wrong side of the boat, so this was our view as we approached the island:

I couldn't believe this quote from Machine Gun Kelly:

Find me a prisoner today who would talk about "suffer[ing] from the intellectual apathy, the pernicious mental scurvy, that come of long privation of all that makes life real." People used to be so much more articulate and educated, and the prison population certainly was a different sort of folk back then! In fact, one of the elderly prisoners featured in the photography exhibit (more on that shortly) lamented the fact that prisoners today are just thugs, not the classy career criminals of his day. 

The stories about the kids who grew up on Alcatraz (children of guards, wardens, etc.) were super-interesting.

The old rec center, which was destroyed by fire:

I think this may be the plant where they turned saltwater into fresh water (?):

The highlight of our visit may have been the photography exhibit about the aging prison population. It was fascinating. Each portrait contained a blurb about what the person did, how he ended up in jail, etc. The majority were incredibly sympathetic. Apparently the recidivism rate for prisoners over the age of 70 or something is zero, and most of the people featured in the exhibit clearly deserved to be released. One man did something bad when he was 18 or 19 and now, decades later, says he isn't that man anymore. Some of the women killed abusive spouses. One such woman said she snapped when she heard her five-year-old daughter's voice ask her daddy why he was touching her. I wanted to weep for hours after that one. Many crimes were related to affairs or drugs. A couple of the subjects seemed crazy and remorseless and definitely deserved to be locked up forever. One guy was in jail as a young man, was released, and then committed a gruesome murder/dismemberment. He did it because he didn't have any skills and wasn't sure how he'd support himself, so heading back to prison seemed the safest route. 

These are the pictures we got of the building with the photography exhibit:

Next was the audio tour of the cell block. 

This was where we learned about one of the big escape attempts: 

The guards on the floor didn't carry weapons, lest the prisoners disarm them. An armed guard patrolled from the elevated gun gallery (behind the bars in the above picture). While most people were outside, a couple of prisoners overpowered the guard on the floor and then spread a couple of the bars apart on the gun gallery so one of them (who had been starving himself so he would fit) could squeeze through the bars and take down the armed guard when he came back that way. Somewhere during this story, I made Bags pause the audio tour because I wasn't clear on the details of exactly how this all went down. She was like, "I don't know. They just spread the bars, squeezed through, got the keys, and lowered them down. That's all I need to know." I have this serious problem of needing to understand every little detail of stories, movies, etc. It's almost incapacitating. It makes museum-going very upsetting because the signs don't explain things well enough for me to feel as if I completely understand. I think my life would be easier if I could be more big-picture. But enough about me. There was a memorial to one of the guards who was killed during this escape attempt after doing something really clever with the keys that prevented the prisoners' escape:

Somehow this whole incident lasted a couple of days (I never was clear about where the escaping prisoners were that whole time), and grenades were thrown in through the roof here:

and landed here:

Artwork by prisoners:

Another famous escape attempt involved dummies made of soap and other stuff that looked like this:

The cafeteria:

Apparently the food there was actually really good. The cafeteria was outfitted so that gas could be released from the ceiling in the event of a riot. The gas was never used, which the tour pointed out was fortunate because it would've resulted in unconscious guards and all sorts of danger. 

The knives were all hung up on this thing containing the shapes of the knives in black paint so that it would be evident immediately if a knife were missing:

Outside the cell block:

I think this is the warden's house, right next to the cell block:

Nice views:

There were a bunch of residences down here for families of guards, and the children played in the concrete courtyard:

We spent lots of time on the island and then finally said farewell and headed back to the city.

Back at Fisherman's Wharf, we ate way too much food at Boudin Bakery:

We walked the length of the wharf and then along the bay. These people were playing soccer in inflatable balls:

There was a certain stretch were swimmers were doing laps around buoys:

We looked down on Fort Mason, and I wished we could explore it:

We arrived at the Palace of Fine Arts around sunset. We were greeted by this frightening sign:

We were not attacked by any raccoons, and it was lovely:

We drove down toward the airport for a dessert thing with the bride-to-be. Cornyee was reunited with old friends, and we met a couple of Anne's new San Francisco friends. Anne's brother, Jarom, and his wife, Katie, were there. I met Katie at Chelsea Wixom's house years ago after I married Jim but before Chelsea or Katie was married. Katie had just returned from visiting Jarom in New Zealand, where he was working on a movie. They had broken up, and she was sort of agonizing over the get-married-or-break-up decision. We enjoyed reminiscing about that night at Chelsea's and otherwise catching up. This was the gang left at the end of the night:

  

Friday morning we squeezed in a walk at Land's End before the temple sealing. Ruins from the old public bath house (which was really a gigantic indoor swimming pool complex):

Fisherman:

Views:

We got ready quickly and headed to the temple in Oakland. Bridges are fun:

The happy couple at the temple:

Group shot of the friends: 

Anne and Coco:

We hit up the distribution center and then drove to Sausalito, hoping to be there for sunset. We tried to go to a highly reviewed restaurant called "Fish," but they had just stopped serving real food and wouldn't start dinner service for an hour. We ended up having an OK meal at a restaurant a block away from the local movie theater. After dinner we bought some candy and hit the theater for the Hunger Games movie. Turns out it was opening night, so there were a number of excited teenage girls there. We enjoyed the experience. The ghetto little theater made us a bit nostalgic:

After the flick, we drove around by the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was kind of scary down on those roads, in a good way. Then we went up to the Marin Headlands. It was incredibly foggy and spooky and wonderful. I'd never been up there before. It's crazy that you can get out there and almost look down on the bridge. Someday I need to go back during the day so I can enjoy more of the view, but the nighttime jaunt was pretty thrilling. We thought we might get knifed on the trail up there, but we made it out alive and thoroughly enjoyed the eerie scene.

Saturday morning was Josh and Anne's ring ceremony at an amazing spot overlooking a river valley. It was super warm and gorgeous:

Everyone liked our accidentally-matching red sister shoes:

After the ring ceremony we moved to the nearby clubhouse and enjoyed the rest of the wedding festivities: 

I haven't spent much time with Anne, but I was very happy for her. Josh seems wonderful. Plus she gave Bags and me an opportunity to take a trip together, so I'm forever indebted to her for that.

After the reception, we drove to the airport to return the rental car, took the BART into the city, and then walked to the Greyhound station. I thought cool people always sat in the back of the bus, but it turns out that the back of a Greyhound (at least this one) reeks like toilet so badly it could make you ill. We moved forward in Sacramento, when a lot of people got off and freed up some seats. The trip was uneventful. Even the guy who totally appeared to be on drugs did nothing exciting. I'm officially a fan of Greyhound. We arrived in Reno around midnight. Pod had arrived earlier that day, so he and Rob picked us up.

Sunday was Lucy's 16th birthday. We went to church and hung out at the house. I think the afternoon may have involved a walk. Maren and her family arrived that evening. (Christian and fam were going to meet us in Reno, too, but sickness interfered.) We had tacos (Lucy's favorite) for dinner and brownies for dessert. Lucy is delightful, as always. She's sweet, polite, and witty. Bags said she told Lucy on Sunday, "Your dad said you didn't go out on a date last night, but I don't believe him." Lucy confirmed that she had gone on a date. Courtney asked, "Did you kiss him?" Lucy answered dryly, "Yeah. It was good." 

Birthday night:

Lucy professed her love for herself:

No family has ever had this much ice cream on hand at one time:

Unfortunately the freezer door had been left open recently, and the refrozen ice cream wasn't looking so fab.

Lucy literally beamed while she blew out her candles:

The gang, minus Rob the photographer:

Monday we did a little hiking. The snow rendered the first trail we tried impassable, but we were able to navigate the trail just down the hill from the first, despite the snow:

I saw this picture of Grandma and Grandpa Throssell and baby Mamo in Rob and Anna's basement:

I immediately thought that Mamo looks like Wren. When I got home and saw Wren again, I didn't really see the resemblance. I still think Wren looks like a Hastings, though.

Tuesday I think we went for a walk on the trails by the house. I flew out around 5:00 that evening. Mostly our time in Reno was filled with enjoyable discussions about current events, politics, and the like. Rob and Anna were so good to put us up. As soon as Pod, Court and I left, the rest of Anna's family arrived for Thanksgiving. I think that week they fulfilled their share of hosting duties for the rest of their lives.  

I got stuck in L.A. overnight Tuesday because of fog in San Diego. I decided against staying in the airport and went to a nearby hotel to get some sleep. The powers that be didn't decide until about 11:00 P.M. that the flight to San Diego wouldn't go that night, so I didn't get to the hotel until super late. I was hungry. I spotted a McDonald's across the street. Instead of waiting in line behind all the other stranded travelers to check in, I crossed the street and went through the McDonald's drive-through on foot, wearing my big backpack. I stood at the speaker and repeated, "Hello?" for a while. I never was  heard, but the drive-through guy eventually spotted me on the camera. I told him I'd gotten stuck overnight at the airport and would love if he could give me a burger and fries. He was very nice and accommodating and asked me to wait off to the side of the drive. The girl at the window was even more concerned about my safety, and she asked me to meet her by a side door so that I wouldn't get run over while waiting for my food. It was pretty funny. 

I enjoyed my meal and stayed up too late watching nothing good on T.V. I ate breakfast at the hotel (I love free continental breakfasts) and then eventually made it home. My original flight had been rescheduled for the six o'clock hour. I didn't want to pay for a hotel only to get a few hours of sleep and get up at 4:00 A.M. to make it back to the airport, so I had them book me on a mid-day flight, which was the next earliest available. I was really glad I did that because my original flight was delayed a couple more hours Tuesday morning. 

Karen Wilson was watching the girls when I got back to the house Tuesday evening. Ever came out to the garage when she heard me arrive. I started crying when I saw her. Karen said Ever had refused to nap that afternoon because she was excited to see me. It was awfully nice to be reunited with the family. 

Jim was wonderful to take care of the girls while I was gone. He supports my taking regular lady trips, and I think that really needs to happen. He said Ever told him that she was worried about his taking care of them while I was gone but that it ended up not being so bad. Jim enjoyed his time with the girls, and I think it was particularly good bonding time for him and Wren. It really worked out nicely for everyone.