In late January/early February of 1996, it got really, really cold in Minneapolis. Now some people might say, “Isn’t it always cold in Minneapolis?” But no. It is only cold in the dead of winter. Some parts of winter can be relatively balmy — such as in the 40s F. The summers can easily be in the 90s with humidity in the 70s. So I am speaking about abnormal cold. It was several degrees below zero Fahrenheit for several weeks. Mom and I looked at one another and said, “Road Trip.” Of course, for us, that meant getting on a plane and flying somewhere. The “where” we chose was San Francisco. We could get a package deal with airfare, hotel, a couple of day trips, and transportation to and from the hotel and airport for a 5-day trip. Sold.
When we got on the plane, it was minus 25 F in Minneapolis. I believe it was in the 50s in San Fran when we arrived. But that was 50 ABOVE zero. It felt like heaven to us. We even opened a window in the hotel room despite the fact that it was foggy and rainy for the first couple days we were there. Then the weather perked up to the high 60s with sun. The sea lions basked in the sun; we basked in the sun and all was right with the world.
The hotel we stayed in was cozy, old, not terribly large, and close to Union Square. All the day tours left from Union Square, so it was a very handy location. There was also a restaurant with a Sherlock Holmes theme and British food nearby. That was where we had dinner our first night (we had had lunch at a cool place on a cliff overlooking the ocean called The Cliff House). After that first night’s dinner, we mainly ate seafood for the rest of the trip. I love seafood and want to get as much of it as possible when traveling someplace where I can get it fresh.
We took a couple days of hop-on-hop-off tours that took us all over town — to Japanese gardens, Mission Delores, the Presidio, China Town, Nob Hill, and loads of other fun and interesting places. We spent time out on Fisherman’s Wharf more than once and ate at a couple different places there. We also watched the sea lions with great fascination. After one of our lunches, we walked over to where one of the cable car lines began and took the cable car back to our hotel.
Our two biggest highlights were (and I’m just giving these to you in the order of when we did them) a day tour of the vineyards in Sonoma and Napa Valley and an audio tour of Alcatraz. The wine tasting tour included the Sebastiani Vineyards, Villa Encinal, Sutter Home, and Charles Krug. Of this group, Sebastiani looked the most like an old, Italian winery. It had been founded in 1904 and was family run at the time. Villa Encinal was a relatively new, boutique winery that had been used as one of the locations for the 1995 film “A Walk in the Clouds”, starring Keanu Reeves. Villa Encinal was as slick and modern as Sebastiani was old world. It was also on a much smaller scale than any of the others. Kind of a “Mom & Pop” style of winery. I kept looking for Keanu Reeves to come striding up towards me through the vineyards, but no such luck.
Sutter Home had been founded in 1874. It appeared to me that the large, Victorian house seemed like it would be a great place to live. The winery had created White Zinfandel back in the 1970s and had hit on a goldmine when they did so. I find that White Zinfandel goes really well with the Thanksgiving turkey, among other things.
Founded in 1861, making it the oldest of the wineries we visited, Charles Krug was also the last winery we visited. It was actually my favorite of the group, both in regards to what the winery looked like and the wines it produced. I purchased a new, state of the art corkscrew and a thingy for slicing off the metal wrapping around the cork in the gift shop. They are still in use in my home today.
Mom and I were both feeling pretty good by this point as we had been sampling pretty much every kind of grape these vineyards crushed. This is why it’s better to take a wine tour on a bus with someone else driving. We probably would have gotten arrested if one of us had been behind the wheel. When we got back to the city, the driver dropped us off at our respective hotels instead of just dumping us out in Union Square. He probably didn’t want a bunch of tipsy tourists wandering around town, getting hit by cable cars or falling off of piers.
To get to Alcatraz, we boarded a ferry at Pier 33. The water was fairly choppy on the way out to the island prison and storm clouds were gathering. So, when we got there, we quickly took a look at all of the exterior bits first before heading into the main part of the complex.
The name Alcatraz is a rough translation from archaic Spanish meaning “pelican”. In 1846 a lighthouse was built on the island, followed by a military fort in 1850. Alcatraz was used as a military prison from 1861 to 1868. In 1934, it became a federal prison up until it was closed in 1963. As a federal prison, it held such notables as Al Capone, Robert Stroud (“The Birdman of Alcatraz”), George “Machine Gun” Kelly, Mickey Cohen, James “Whitey” Bulgar, and Alvin “Creepy” Karpis. Although I don’t think that “creepy” would be the best nickname to have, I suppose it was good for a gangster who wanted a scary reputation. I certainly would have given him a wide berth. Of course, I don’t think I would have tried to become pals with any of those guys.
Between 1934 and 1963, there were 14 escape attempts. The most famous one being in June of 1962, involving papier mache heads that were left in the beds of the escapees while they climbed the ventilation shaft to the roof. A couple of the men were never found. So they either drowned or were successful at their escape. You would think that papier mache heads wouldn’t fool anybody, but when they are mostly covered up and the guards had no reason to be suspicious (and therefore most likely to see what they wanted to see) it makes sense.
The tour began with a person telling us about the history of the island and of the prison, including the 1969 Native American occupation of the island. Then we received headphones and an audio player. That’s when the tour really became interesting. The narrative was accompanied by the appropriate sounds. For instance, at one point, the recording said to enter a particular cell in solitary confinement. Then you heard the sound of the door slamming and locking behind you. It wasn’t really, but it made you jump. The recording also took us through the entire 1962 escape attempt (including the actual cells and ventilator shaft), plus the 1946 Battle of Alcatraz.
The Battle of Alcatraz took you through each of the actual settings, giving you the shouting, gunfire, etc. as you went. In the corridor where several of the prisoners were finally trapped and killed, you can still see the pockmarks of the bullets. The audio experience allowed us to feel like we were right in the middle of it all. It was unnerving, but educational.
All the while we were in the prison, there was a storm raging outside. Quite appropriate. The flashes of lighting and occasional clap of thunder went well with the Battle of Alcatraz especially. One particular boom sounded just after the corridor became quiet again once the gunfire stopped. Fortunately the storm was over when we needed to head back to the mainland. Mom and I were relieved to have made our escape, but also thought that the entire tour was wonderful.
The “deep freeze” in Minneapolis was over by the time we returned. We were back to a regular Minnesota winter. Our break in San Francisco had been memorable and a lot of fun.
