LHJ Travels: Bay Area Edition Pt. 1

If you guys follow me on Instgram and Twitter (and if you don’t, you should) you probably saw my pictures from my trip to the Bay Area a few weeks ago.  I meant to post about this trip sooner, but I got busy at work.  I had a blast!  I went and visited my friend Ruby; she visited me last July and I wanted to return the favor.

I’ve been to California before, but never the Bay Area and I feel like I saw most of it on this trip.  I’m actually going to split the trip up into a few posts so I don’t overwhelm y’all with pictures on this one.

 

 

I had an early flight out of Houston on Thursday morning, so I had to wake up at 3:30 in the morning (after like 2 hours of sleep) and after a slight snafu with Super Shuttle I made it to the airport and made it through TSA in 15 minutes!  I had a quick layover in Phoenix and barely made it to my next flight, but I did and was in Oakland by 9am.  I worked a bit that day, but Ruby and I went out for Mexican that night and hung out in the San Leandro area.

Friday was a full day, we went to visit Angel Island, Alcatraz and had drinks and appetizers at this quaint spot in San Francisco.

Angel Island is an old military base that is now a national park and it was beautiful there!  We did a riding tour and saw some of the old buildings and homes (that some park rangers are now living in), and we even got a chance to see some of the wildlife up close.  So many deer and eucalyptus trees y’all.  We ended up booking a double tour and got to tour Alcatraz next.  

 The intake area. 

 We did an audio tour and the photo above is of the 4 officers who were narrating and the one below is of the 4 inmates who narrating.

I had to get one in the cell.

One of the first black men employed at the Rock.

So close to San Francisco, but so far.

 The warden’s home…or what’s left of it.

 My shadow while taking a few pictures of the officers’ area.

I’ve seen many movies about Alcatraz and I’ve even visited/toured other prisons and detention centers but none of that prepared me for the tour of the Rock that day.  

Stay tuned later this week when I share the other part of my trip.