Time is on our side

First of all, if you are going to be a tourist, you should dive into the deep end of being a tourist.  There is a reason that tourism is an industry.  I suspect most interesting, touristy places could use a few dollars these days, anyhow- dollars have probably been scarce for a few years.  The other thing to do- if someone recommends a thing- a restaurant, a site to see- do that.  That person has a memory of the place that has lasted long enough to bother telling you.  It must be worthy.  On a strong recommendation from a family member, we went to a restaurant called Scoma’s for dinner last night.  First, to get there, we walked up a street called Al Scoma Way.  They named a street after the restaurant guy- must be pretty special.  The walls were lined with autographed photos of celebrities and the waiters all wore white jackets.  It was amazing food, and when you walk out the door, you see a second building that they use just for receiving the fish they serve.  I get it- right on the water like that, you’d have to try hard not to serve spectacular seafood.  

Here we are, on Al Scoma Way:

From there, we walked along the water for a while, then turned toward our hotel.  It was a big day, and we wanted to rest up for today.  The other thing is, we have no idea what time it really is.  We flew from the central time zone, across the mountain time zone and into the Pacific one, and last night, the daylight saving time shift occurred- we have no clue if we should be as awake as we are yet, but we’re up and moving.  

Today, we head to prison.  We watched the 1996 movie The Rock before we headed out of town, and today, we will start off by going to Alcatraz.  We have a tour booked, and I have my fingers crossed that an elite ex-military unit won’t hold us hostage to affect change from the government, only to be thwarted by guys like Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage.  Now that I see that written down, it does seem pretty unlikely.  Anyhow, I hope our tour is more informative and less eventful than all of that.  

We follow that with some wandering-around time and a 1pm walking tour of Chinatown.  Certainly, we will have an amazing Chinese lunch.  This evening, we wrap up the day with a sunset cruise.  

Cas was so smart when he chose a hotel, too.  He picked something smack in the middle of all things tourist.  We’re a block from the cable car, a few blocks from the water and just around the corner from the place where we find our hop-on-hop-off bus tour.  We’re doing that instead of renting a car or taking an Uber or something like that, and we got a two-day pass before we left the house.  

We’re just getting going, now- with a few moments built in for a bite to eat.  I suspect it’s a bad idea to go to Alcatraz on an empty stomach.  I haven’t heard good things about prison food.