Journal Entry Two: The Rock, Tiburon and The Pacific

This morning, we headed out for an early breakfast, and then off to Alcatraz. The Rock, as they call it, was very much like I remembered from when I came to California with my father and brother. The boat ride was a quick 12 minutes. The tour was a standard issue audio self-tour. We learned about the prisoners, the escape attempts and that Jackson was not interested in Alcatraz. He was a little bitchy, until we covered his stroller with a blanket so that he couldn’t see. He fell right to sleep.

Nicole and I finished the tour, which worked out perfectly with the weather. It rained while we were indoors. We did a little shopping at the gift shop, and purchased a sign for Jackson’s bedroom that reads: “Regulation #5: You are entitled to food, clothing, shelter, and medical attention. Anything else that you get is a privilege.” We missed the boat back, but caught the next, and headed off to Tiburon, a city just north of San Francisco.

Tiburon was a beautiful city with an amazing view of San Francisco. To get there, we travelled over the Golden Gate Bridge, which is an awesome sight up close. The city of Tiburon was suggested by one of Nicole’s co-workers, specifically for a certain restaurant called Guaymas. It was a Spanish style restaurant that was worth the drive. The view of SF was breathtaking. While we ate, a hail storm passed over head pinging little balls of ice all over the SF facing deck. Jackson was a pleasure, which we noticed as an interesting little fact when considering the sharp contrast to his first few months of life. Now he enjoys eating with us, playing with his food, and flirting with the wait staff and other patrons.

We left Tiburon and headed back over the Golden Gate. I was very pleased to find out that the $6 toll is waved for carpools of over three people, and tiny people count as a person. There wasn’t much time to do anything else before we had to come back and put Jackson to bed, so we took a drive down the Great Highway that runs along the Pacific Coast of SF. The Pacific Ocean is beautiful. It seems so much more majestic and grand when compared to the Atlantic. The waves were huge, and we saw a few gents kite surfing. The sport is both intriguing and incredibly frightening.

On our last night in San Francisco, I really feel like our little family had its fill. I’m sure there are a few more nooks we could have uncovered, but this is a California trip, and not a San Francisco trip. With that, we will get a great night of sleep tonight, and head out nice and early tomorrow where we will venture down to Los Angeles for the next four days.