San Francisco through the eyes of Team Danger

After our 8am arrival, we headed right into the City, and our first stop was at Crissy Fields, in the Presidio. I couldn't believe how beautiful our weather was. The skies were unbelievably blue and clear, the sun was shining, and it was the most uncharacteristic San Francisco weather I've ever experienced.

After our 8am arrival, we headed right into the City, and our first stop was at Crissy Fields, in the Presidio. I couldn't believe how beautiful our weather was. The skies were unbelievably blue and clear, the sun was shining, and it was the most uncharacteristic San Francisco weather I've ever experienced.

We had perfect views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

It was so wonderful just being near the water, so we spent a lot of time just soaking it in.

A not so very good attempt at an all-family selfie:

Photo by Alex:

About a mile away into the Presidio, you can find Fort Point National Historical Site. It was built at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge to help protect the San Francisco Bay from the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Which meant... Civil War Trading Cards! And passport stamps!

(Don't think I didn't totally plan this day just for those cards. We've only got a limited time to collect them in during the Civil War's 150th anniversary, and my little historians are REALLY into their Civil War trading cards.)

Fort Point was interesting for Team Danger - it had canons and artillery and a very cool fort to play army in.

I do have to say, though, that the water and the surfers in the water, were probably the highlight of our visit to Fort Point.

That, and it was just too cool being at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. Love the juxtaposition of the nineteenth century fort with the iconic Golden Gate Bridge in these photos.

From Fort Point, we headed through the City to show the boys Lombard Street, aka the crookedest street in the world.

I never fail to be amazed that some crazy people really live here and put up with all the tourists and traffic. Oh wait. Maybe its the views??

We had reservations for a 1:30 pm boat ride to Alcatraz.

That was hard to figure out - I would have liked an earlier time, but I had to allow for possible flight delays. And apparently you can't just show up the day of and get tickets. Which left us with some time to kill, so we ate lunch at Pier 39 down on Fisherman's Wharf.

And then we walked over to the pier where the boat to Alcatraz would pick us up. The boat ride was a lot of fun.

We had fun spotting all the different marine life in the Bay, like these sea lions.

Not to mention the stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, San Francisco, and the Bay Bridge.

We've never been to Alcatraz before, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

Its now run by the National Park Service, but it has an interesting history beyond its fabled years as an island penitentiary fortress, much of which I was unaware of before our visit.

For instance, in the late 1960s, many Native Americans staged a coup of sorts and declared Alcatraz to be the property of the American Indians, under the theory that this was the first sight seen by new arrivals to America on the west coast, and how great it was that they would see land owned by its original inhabitants. Which is why this tower says "Welcome Free Indians" on it.

Of course, Alcatraz is most famous for being a prison that housed the worst of the worst, like Al Capone.

But did you know it was first built with a lighthouse, and then a decade later, turned into a civil war fortress, to protect the San Francisco Bay?

Its on the opposite side of the Bay from Fort Point, and the US army felt it important to have the city protected at all sides. After the Civil War, it was used as a military prison until Prohibition brought so many new dangerous criminals that the government decided to refashion it into a prison in 1934.

Here's the jail cell from which one of the famous "Escape from Alcatraz" escapees made his escape.

View from the dining hall in the prison's windows - wonder how those criminals felt seeing such beauty outside every single day?

I had debated as to whether or not the boys were at the right age for Alcatraz. They loved it, and their lack of knowledge of Al Capone or the other famous former residents of Alcatraz wasn't a problem at all (trying to tell my kids why selling mommy and daddy drinks was illegal in the 1920s was by far the biggest problem of the day). Here they are talking to each other in the visitation rooms.

And then there were the views from the top of the "Rock."

After Alcatraz, we headed out of SF to get to my brother's house, now that the girls were done with school for the day.

After dinner, we let the kids all watch a movie together in bed. Needless to say, it wasn't long before the time change and early wake-up caught up with my boys. Oh well - more time for grown-up talk!