Visiting "The Rock"

About three weeks ago, the young missionaries in our district said they were very interested in touring Alcatraz; so we went online and ordered tickets for 10. Yesterday was our day to go. Fortunately it was a warm, sunny day...perfect for being on the water and visiting a cold, stone building. Actually, it was the warmest day we've experienced since coming to Pacifica, we even broke 70 degrees!!!

All the young elders have bus passes so we just met them at Pier 33, but the young sisters have a car so we arranged to pick them up at their apartment to help them avoid the expense of parking. The four of us arrived in plenty of time to board the boat, but we were concerned about the Zone leaders. They called to say that they couldn't get on the trolley because it was full and they needed to wait for the one that would follow. Fortunately, they arrived at the pier a few minutes before the cutoff time. I really didn't want them to miss out. They each had paid $26.00 for the tour and that's a lot of money for their small missionary budget and they really, really wanted to visit "The Rock."

The boat ride over was very pleasant, and the Golden Gate National Park system does a quality job of providing a good tour. The headset tour is very interesting and the buildings are very stark and just what you'd think a prison for "the worst of the worst" would be like.

The escape stories were fascinating. Thirty-six prisoners attempted an escape over the prison's history. The records don't show any successful  getaways, but three prisoners escaped and have never been found. They think they probably drowned in the Bay.

One of the Park employees showed the young elders the hospital and psych ward which were closed off to  other tourists. He must have known how excited they were to be on the tour.  The history of the place was interesting, but as for me, give me Stanford...that's a place of beauty.