Several years ago, later in the year of 2009, we took a road trip from Vancouver in British Columbia to Monterey in California. The memory is getting blurry but I believe we flew into Seattle, Washington and rented a car, heading north into Canada. We didn't travel far over the border, just to Vancouver Island, spent a couple of days there, saying as we always do, we really have to stay longer next time, and then drove south.
We stopped in San Francisco and Coit Tower was on our places to visit. The last time we were there was when we were on another road trip, this time driving across country, heading from one duty station to another when Gregg was in the Navy. Another lifetime ago now.
Back then we asked my parents if they would like to go along, and we were exceedingly happy that they said yes. Our son was two years' old and we packed ourselves into a small compact car, pulling an equally small rental trailer behind us. It was quite the adventure and with my parents along, a trip of a lifetime. Mom and Dad had a blast, not only for seeing this wonderful country, but it also gave them a lot of catch-up time with their grandson. I love to look at our old photos from that trip. I need to get them out again so that I can transfer everything onto the computer.
Getting back to our 2009 road trip, this time we were happy to find that the tower was open. Coit Tower is on the top of Telegraph Hill, was completed in 1933, and is a famous landmark. We really did not know much about it but were delighted to find these amazing murals painted on the walls inside.
Many of these murals depict the struggles of working class Americans, and were completed in 1933-34. They are now protected as a national treasure. At the top it provides 360 degree views of the city.
In 1858 Lillie Hitchock Coit became the mascot for San Francisco Firefighters at the young age of 15. So the story goes, Lillie witnessed Knickerbocker Engine Co. No. 5, a private fire department, respond to a fire call on Telegraph Hill while understaffed. She dropped her books to assist them to the source of the fire.
After that they made her a mascot and when she returned from travels in Europe to San Francisco in 1863, she was made an honorary member of the engine company. She then rode along with the firefighters when they went to a fire or were in parades, and attending their annual banquets. When volunteer firefighters were ill she visited their sickbeds, and when they died she sent them flowers and attended funerals.
A very interesting young lady, she would continue to break traditions for the rest of her life, smoking cigars, wearing trousers and gambling in the middle of the 19th century, long before it was socially acceptable for women to do so. But she remained consistent in one thing, her support for San Francisco's firefighters. Today, she is the matron saint of the San Francisco Firefighters.
When Lillie passed away in July 1929, she left one-third of her estate to the City of San Francisco, "to be expended in an appropriate manner for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the city which I have always loved." The city used the bequest to build Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill. The remainder of her bequest also sponsored another neighborhood landmark, a statue of three firefighters at the northwest corner of Washington Square Park.
I obtained all this information here, where you can read a lot more information about her. The photo below is one I borrowed from the site also.
The murals we saw were created by 27 different on-site artists and many assistants. The project, going by the name of the Public Works Art Project, was the first of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs that hired artists.
Their works depicted various political ideologies, including racial equality and leftist, Marxist ideals. For example, Bernard Zakheim's mural "Library", portrays fellow artist John Langley Howard crushing a newspaper in his hand as he stretches for a copy of Karl Marx's Das Kapital.
However, some of the most contentious pieces were painted over after the longshoremen's strike of 1934, when a conversation about the radical work became heated. Almost all of the murals are open to the public for free during the day hours, although there is a stretch of murals in the spiral stairway that is only opened to scheduled tours.
If you go to this link you can read more about the murals and what they portray. There were more that I didn't get a photo of.
I am going to end here with the written part of my post, and just let you look at the rest of the murals.
Part 3 So, here we are, setting out on this wonderful boat ride and everyone seems to be having a good time...
including us.
Our fellow boat riders were a family from Japan, a family from Puerto Rico, a young couple whom I thought might be honeymooners, a lady on her own, and another family who looked like a brother and a sister and their families which included a toddler and a babe in arms.
Then there was Captain Jim and First Mate Anthony. Gregg and I had a lovely chat with Anthony when we were the only ones on the boat. Captain Jim was still selling tickets up top. Anthony told us that his heritage was Greek, that he came from Florida and was heading back there next year. He was getting his hours in so that he could pass for being his own Captain. He was looking forward to being in the same line of work in Florida as he loved this life. He told us all about the area and was interested in us also and asked lots of questions. A real nice guy, a people guy. The Captain was great too.
We were all given safety instructions before the boat took off from its moorings and shown where all the life vests were. We were told that it might get a little choppy at times. We found that when the big ships went by we got caught in their wake, and that was like a mini roller coaster ride.
Anthony warned everyone when he could see it coming. Fortunately we all took it in good part and most laughed through the whole up and down motion. Even the little ones were laughing.
Loved it, so much fun!
I enjoyed looking at all the other boats on the water.
And there were kite surfers also. You can barely make them out through the window. That's when things started getting a little squirrely.
This happened all incredibly fast. I could see that a kite-surfer was coming closer to the boat, but he was traveling at such a high rate of speed, this is all I got. A view of his kite strings.
What happened next was one of the most bizarre spectacles I have ever seen. One of those guys came sailing passed the boat at what Gregg thought was 16 to 20 knots. He threw a full can of beer into the boat, also coming in at a high rate of speed, which bounced off the arm of the lady sitting on the stern. Fortunately she wasn't badly hurt but I bet she had a big bruise, and a story to tell that night. It could so easily have hit her head. It could have hit one of the children. There was a third kite-surfer, not in this video, who was the one who threw the can. I remember seeing this maniacal look on his face, probably full of adrenilin from that fast kite ride I'm assuming, as he sped by. These guys are hitting quite a speed. I personally thought he was going to hit the end of the boat, and that we might have an emergency on our hands. All this happened in split seconds and before we knew it he was gone, as fast as he had appeared. We were all in momentary shock, including the Captain and Anthony who rushed over to see if this lady was hurt, and worried about the rest of us. We were more concerned for this lady. Crazy! What on earth that man was thinking when he did something so incredibly idiotic I have no idea, and who on earth takes a full can of beer on a kite ride anyhow? If we had Superwoman sitting there she could have dragged him onto the deck by the scruff of his neck and given him a breathalizer.
And so we continued onto the Golden Gate Bridge, after Anthony had made sure we were all okay, The sight of that iconic symbol took our minds back to a happier and less confused place.
We were told it was tradition to make a wish when we went under the bridge.
I have seen the Golden Gate several times but never from right underneath it.
It took four years to build the Golden Gate Bridge. Construction began on January 5th, 1933 and was finished in 1937.
The bridge is named after the Golden Gate Strait. which is the entrance to the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. Around 1846 an American Military topographer and explorer, John C. Fremont, named the strait 'Christophylae', because it reminded him of the Byzantium Harbor 'Chrysoceras' or 'Golden Horn'. (This is near Constantinople, today called Istanbul.)
In honor of the bridge's opening, chief enginer and designer, Joseph Strauss, wrote a poem entitled "The Mighty Task Is Done."
I didn't realize we were also going to get a trip round Alcatraz Island.
Facts you may not know about Alcatraz, which I found here.
Military prisoners were Alcatraz's first inmates.
Al Capone was one of the first prisoners to be sent to Alcatraz. He actually played a banjo in the prison band called the Rock Islanders.
36 prisoners tried to escape Alcatraz. 26 were captured, six were shot to death and two drowned.
Alcatraz was named after birds. Pelicans were the first residents of the island. When a Spanish Lieutenant Juan Manuel de Ayala first sailed through the Golden Gate Strait in 1775, he christened this rocky outcrop "La Isla de los Alcatraces", meaning "Island of Pelicans".
There were 336 cells in B and C Block. The National Park Service states that there were originally 348 but 12 were removed when stairways were installed at the end of each cellblock. There were 36 segregation cells and 6 solitary confinement cells (actually known as confinement chambers by many inmates) in D-Block.
After the prison remained dormant for six years, Native American activists occupied Alcatraz in November 1969.
There are several more interesting facts, and it will expand on some of what I shared above at the website.
So we found ourselves making our way back to shore, after our wonderful boat team told us many more interesting facts about Alcatraz. They certainly kept us entertained for the entire hour we were out there, and knowing that they did this several times a day, and were still able to keep it all fresh, was admirable.
I even got to see my seal.
He looks comfortable doesn't he?
By the way, did you see the story about the young girl being pulled into the water in British Columbia by one of these guys? It took everyone by surprise. You can see the video here if you would like to check it out. It all ends happily but is so incredibly scary to watch, and is another reminder that these animals are wild, and feeding them can be a dangerous thing to do. The seal mentioned thought her dress was food, and he lept out as if grabbing a fish, and pulled her into the water. It is obvious that people had been feeding this seal for quite a while and it knew where to come to get it. It happened so quickly (just like our kite surfer). They look cute and cuddly but well, we need to keep a safe distance, not only for our sakes and the sake of our children especially, but for theirs too so that we can enjoy them for a very long time.
We docked, we got off our boat and thanked Captain Jim and First Mate Anthony profusely. The ride was only $15 a ticket, the best $15 we ever paid out for an incredibly enjoyable ride. They were great and the boat ride, apart from the wacky beer throwing kite-surfer incident, was a whole lot of fun. At this stage of the game I much preferred it to a trip to Disneyland, and I kid you not.
We were heading back to the car and had walked quite a ways, stopping off at one of the places to get a long, cool drink. Truth be told I was so tired it was one of those times when you just put one foot in front of the other. This young man was nearby watching us walk by. He doesn't have to be a body language expert to know that he had a potential fare.
He yelled over and asked if he could give us a ride. Once again Gregg shouted no thanks and quick as a flash I said 'YES PLEASE!!!!" Once again Gregg looked at me as if I had developed another personality. "You want to get in that thing?" he said. "Do you think he can pull the two of us?" I looked at Gregg a little narrow eyed I have to say and no, I don't do that too often only when I am desperately exhausted and almost on my knees. And it wasn't as if he was going to have to take us up Lombard Street, it was a nice flat run!
I looked at the young man and smiled sweetly. "Can you take us to our car? It isn't too far away." He said, "Sure, hop on!" Now, I will admit it was a little tricky getting into that contraption, not something I have done before, but he kindly turned around so that he was next to the curb and I didn't have to climb up quite so high. What a wonderful bike-buggy, and a wonderful young man.
He was super fit and sailed us down the road, weaving in and out of traffic, very carefully, like it was a breeze. I can't remember his name but he was originally from Marietta, Georgia and enjoying life in San Francisco for a while. He chatted amiably all the way back, with a few tour guide facts, and it wasn't long before he dropped us right near our car. I could have kissed him.
Gregg turned round to me as we sat in the car and said, "I'm glad we did that. I was feeling kinda tired." He laughed and I smiled sweetly. Did I role my eyes at the same time? Maybe! Yes it was a great ending to our trip to San Francisco, and the car was relatively cool from being under cover.
We got on the freeway and drove the hour-and-a-half in traffic to his sister's house, and I napped going back. Gregg says I sure can fall asleep real fast when I am in the passenger seat. Once we start rolling it doesn't take that long. (I brought our nice comfy pillows with us from home.)
And I silently thanked all the people we had met that day for helping to make it such a great one. I daresay we will be coming back to this city one day. I will look forward to it.
We stopped in San Francisco and Coit Tower was on our places to visit. The last time we were there was when we were on another road trip, this time driving across country, heading from one duty station to another when Gregg was in the Navy. Another lifetime ago now. 
Back then we asked my parents if they would like to go along, and we were exceedingly happy that they said yes. Our son was two years' old and we packed ourselves into a small compact car, pulling an equally small rental trailer behind us. It was quite the adventure and with my parents along, a trip of a lifetime. Mom and Dad had a blast, not only for seeing this wonderful country, but it also gave them a lot of catch-up time with their grandson. I love to look at our old photos from that trip. I need to get them out again so that I can transfer everything onto the computer. 
Getting back to our 2009 road trip, this time we were happy to find that the tower was open. Coit Tower is on the top of Telegraph Hill, was completed in 1933, and is a famous landmark. We really did not know much about it but were delighted to find these amazing murals painted on the walls inside. 
Many of these murals depict the struggles of working class Americans, and were completed in 1933-34. They are now protected as a national treasure. At the top it provides 360 degree views of the city.
In 1858 Lillie Hitchock Coit became the mascot for San Francisco Firefighters at the young age of 15. So the story goes, Lillie witnessed Knickerbocker Engine Co. No. 5, a private fire department, respond to a fire call on Telegraph Hill while understaffed. She dropped her books to assist them to the source of the fire. 
After that they made her a mascot and when she returned from travels in Europe to San Francisco in 1863, she was made an honorary member of the engine company. She then rode along with the firefighters when they went to a fire or were in parades, and attending their annual banquets. When volunteer firefighters were ill she visited their sickbeds, and when they died she sent them flowers and attended funerals. 
A very interesting young lady, she would continue to break traditions for the rest of her life, smoking cigars, wearing trousers and gambling in the middle of the 19th century, long before it was socially acceptable for women to do so. But she remained consistent in one thing, her support for San Francisco's firefighters. Today, she is the matron saint of the San Francisco Firefighters. 
When Lillie passed away in July 1929, she left one-third of her estate to the City of San Francisco, "to be expended in an appropriate manner for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the city which I have always loved." The city used the bequest to build Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill. The remainder of her bequest also sponsored another neighborhood landmark, a statue of three firefighters at the northwest corner of Washington Square Park.
I obtained all this information here, where you can read a lot more information about her. The photo below is one I borrowed from the site also.
Their works depicted various political ideologies, including racial equality and leftist, Marxist ideals. For example, Bernard Zakheim's mural "Library", portrays fellow artist John Langley Howard crushing a newspaper in his hand as he stretches for a copy of Karl Marx's Das Kapital.
However, some of the most contentious pieces were painted over after the longshoremen's strike of 1934, when a conversation about the radical work became heated. Almost all of the murals are open to the public for free during the day hours, although there is a stretch of murals in the spiral stairway that is only opened to scheduled tours.
I am going to end here with the written part of my post, and just let you look at the rest of the murals.
