It felt good to use her again.

My camera, that is. (As of right now, I've decided to assign my camera a gender.) 

She had been collecting dust for several weeks now, so it was high time to use her again!

Saturday morning, The Dizzle woke me up with a little surprise. 

No, not that kind of surprise.... 

(Did I just write a sexual reference on here? Shame on me!)

Anyway.

He went to the closet and brought out a little birthday bag and said, "Happy early birthday, Boo!"

And with those four words, I ripped in to my gifts. Amongst them: Alcatraz tickets for the Night Tour... THAT night!!

You should know that I've only been talking about going to Alcatraz for the last 9 months or so. Call me a nerd, but I just love that shiz. Touring a real live prison on an island and walk the same grounds that Sean Connery walked?! Um, yeah. I'll take two.

So that evening, we headed over to Pier 33 and boarded the giant Alcatraz cruise boat. 

Us and 150 foreigners. Yessss.

The 20 minute or so ride to the island was at such a perfect time with an amazing view of the sunset and San Francisco skyline. It truly felt surreal looking back at the city and knowing that was our home. Our home! It just hit me. We live there? When the hell did that happen?! (Seriously, I don't think it's fully sunk in yet.)

And talk about those seagulls flying so close. 

Go ahead. 

Talk about it.

As we got closer to the island, the sun went away and the fog settled in.

It got cold and it got creepy.

Just the way I wanted it for this little adventure of ours.

The cells were super small. Verner could touch wall to wall. I couldn't even imagine being locked up there for years and years. Fascinating, I tell you!

Definitely one of the most interesting parts of the tour was getting to hear about all of the escape attempts. This one below was done over several months with a SPOON.  A spoon! 

Talk about desperation, eh?

They had the upstairs hospital area open to the public, which isn't always the case, so that was a nice little surprise. It was so quiet and creepy walking through the rooms and imagining the prison in working function. It seems like the perfect place to make a horror movie.

Hydro-Therapy Room

Surgical Room

This weekend has been one of my favorites so far in the city. It felt like we were traveling again, experiencing new adventures together. And seeing all of those tourists there with us, who traveled thousands of miles to be right where we live, made me have a new appreciation for my new neighborhood. So here's to many more weekends of new experiences and exploring!

Great start to my birthday week, if I do say so myself!

Thanks Boo for such a great day! I guess my Alcatraz mentions over the last 9 months have paid off, huh? ;)

And for all the rest of ya'lls - - If you haven't done the Alcatraz Night Tour, then I'd definitely recommend it, in case you couldn't tell from this post.

xoxo