the one thing my fiancé was looking forward to the most during our cali trip was our visit to alcatraz. and while i didn’t want to miss this must-visit when in san fran, i wasn’t exactly dying with excitement either. but boy, was i wrong to dread this little outing. we took out the first boat of the day (book tickets well in advance, they sell out weeks beforehand) and skipped the ‘obligatory’ welcome speech by the guide on the island. instead, we sneaked into the prison building as one of the first visitors of the day, and got to experience it in all of its eerily empty creepiness.this is the place to really take the tourist route and listen to the audio guide – i literally got chills from some of the stories. and do ask the park rangers for more information or cool anecdotes, if you’re lucky, you’ll get a private tour of some of the closed-off areas. that’s how we were invited to take a look at the underground tunnel and the area where they shot ‘the rock’ – pretty awesome indeed. oh, and one last thing – if you needed more convincing – the fauna and flora over there are breathtakingly beautiful.
photos by stephanie duval