National Park Survivors: Day 15: San Francisco, CA, 0 driving miles

Our first order of business this morning is to wish Maddy a happy 17th birthday! She is gifted a bedazzled whistle for her senior year at PHS. She has been voted the position of drum major in the marching band, a very high honor, so this is the perfect gift.

We have a great view of Coit tower and the down town city scape from our room.

"Skylar, you need to turn down the Smart ass volume."-Joani

We won't have any driving today, but there will be plenty of walking miles. We start out early by heading to the pier for our trip to the rock. Alcatraz is a National Park so the kids will be getting another stamp in their NP passports.

We start our visit with a special ranger talk about the escapes of Alcatraz.

We then head up the hill to the cell block.

Inmate showers

The inmates were given the essentials when they arrived. The cells look very uncomfortable.

Over time, after years if being there, their cells became more like home to them.

Maddy spends her birthday in prison

The view of the city from the rock is great!

Once we leave Alcatraz we head down along the piers toward lunch. Some want Burgers...

But I want chowder and sourdough...

After lunch there was shopping along Fisherman's wharf to be done.

Gracie found her perfect purchase and is happy as can be now.

The bread company is amazing with sourdough of every shape.

The birthday girl loves turtles!

Lombard street is our next destination. The crooked street is very famous in San Francisco.

"They must have been drunk when they made this or they just had a child do it using a dot to dot page."- Skylar

We head back to the room to chill out for a bit, but after a few minutes Cindi and I decide to head out on our own for a drink.

We hit 'Melt', a little wine and fondue place.

Then off to Maddy's birthday dinner. She loves Italian so we head to the pier and hit Tarantino's.

We are all happy with the choice.

Drink #2 cheers to a great trip!

Next we go on the hunt for a special birthday dessert.

We end up at the Rainforest cafe for a Volcano.

Skylar had been bugging me all day about getting a cow hat. The one we saw earlier in the day didn't even look like a cow so I refused to let him get it. On the way back to the room we see another place with ridiculous hats, only $5.