Day 22 - San Francisco
Trip Start
Jun 26, 2005
1
23
51
Trip End
Aug 14, 2005
San Francisco,
California,
United States
Monday, July 18, 2005
Today we had a late start - wake up call was at 7:00. We went to the Visitor Center at Yosemite to get postcards and such and to go to Mass. We hit unexpected traffic and were 1/2 hour late for Mass. Bro. Roger led Bus 004 from the Magnificat all the way through the Mass, ending at the homily. So Bus 004 didn't miss much of Mass fortunately.
After Mass everyone went to the Visitor Center for postcards and such, and then Mr. Troy handed out "I made it to the top of Half Dome" T-shirts to every single student - he said he was prouder of us then he has been of any other group that he has taught or coached, for we are the first USA Study Tour to all reach the very top of Half-Dome. After a proud picture of the group with Half-Dome as the backdrop, wearing our T-Shirts, we loaded back on the buses. We traveled a bit across California, stopping once for a very quick lunch in the parking lot of K-Mart. Some rushed in trying to find the 6th Harry Potter book. Bridget and Shajuan found it and directed Meg Orr and Alyssa Johnson to it. All four returned with copies of the book, to everyone else's eager cries of "I get it next!!"
We continued our driving until we reached San Francisco. We were given a brief opportunity for dinner, and rushed to eat on the interestingly named "Blue and Gold" ferry to Alcatraz. We traveled only about 1/2 hour on the ferry, but that didn't stop the Harry Potter books from being brought along. We reached Alcatraz and disembarked for a short but excellent guided tour by Ranger Dan up to the actual building of Alcatraz, which, we learned, has also been an immigration building and two military forts. Steve C. and Doug amused our fellow tour members with their antics and prisoners' skull caps they had bought in the store that we visited prior to boarding. We reached the prison building itself and took the audio tour, which was just as good, if not better, than the one we experienced at the 6th Floor Museum. A number of us had our pictures taken as if we were inmates ourselves. Before the tour ended, we had the opportunity to listen to and watch the slamming of the prison cell doors. Clarke said "It was an eerie spine-chilling experience - which makes me hope that I will never experience it for real!" At the conclusion of our tour, the sky had completely darkened, the weather was foggy and windy, perfecting the end of our somewhat scary tour. We took the last ferry back and traveled to Bishop Riordan High School, our "home" for the night.
Journal Crew
Link to today's photos
