Xeno’s Excellent San Francisco adventure

I had a blast this weekend visiting with my friend "Trixie" from Florida. I was surprised at how much Trix looks in person (to me anyway) exactly like three people I know very well combined: two of my ex-girlfriends plus Amy Anne, my music wife. Anyway...

The first night, we went on the night tour of Alcatraz. It was pretty freaky. Jail sucks, m'kay? But visiting was fun! Spooky at night. The city lights from the island were beautiful. I want to see Escape from Alcatraz now. I learned that we owe to the Indians who occupied the island for a year the fact that Alcatraz is now a National Park.

I also enjoyed the fact that some people who escaped made fake heads of themselves to fool the guards. You can see one in my photo below. They were real enough to be creepy. I learned that Al Capone was in prison for "tax evasion". Seems like pretty mild charges to get a person into Alcatraz, but usually people were sent there because they tried to escape from other places.

We stayed at the Radison right on Fisherman's Warf (only about $100/night) and had many splendid crab and clam chowder feasts on Pier 39 and elsewhere. Saturday we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge ... starting from Fisherman's Warf. This was many miles and took many hours. It put blisters on our feet, but the view was amazing. We watched sail boat races, huge ships coming and going, and we got some great exercise. I still have a few blisters as I write this.

Then, Sunday, we took a limo to the Stinking Rose, a garlic themed restaurant. Awesome food. Wonderful weekend get away.