The morning was spent hauling lumber for the Sensory Room project at the Mountain View Elementary. 100 2X4X10, 24 2X4X8, 24 sheets fo 1.2" drywall and 4 sheets of 3/4" plywood. Dean manages to pull something in his forearm carrying plywood and spent some time with an icepack that afternoon. We went to a late breakfast with our fellow wood haulers at the Black Bear Diner in Walnut Creek.
At 4 pm three members of the Diablo Valley Mustang Association met us at our house and we headed for San Francisco where we met three more club members for a twilight tour of Alcatraz. Parking was scarce and so were the wierdo's at Pier 33 where we parked and got in line for our boat. We got out to the island and immediately hiked up to the cell house for an audio tour. The cells the prisoners excaped from that made there way to the roof and tried to swim to freedom never to be seen again were on display. The papier mache heads they made were in the bunks and some of the spoons they dug out the concrete with were on display. It was absloutely awesome and we would recommend this tour to anyone.
Since it was the night tour the staff had a number of special treats for us. There were numberous talks on the excape attempts, prison conditions, and the Indian occupation of the '70's. A Souix Park Ranger even sang a song of mourning for the lost freedom of the Indian's that was hauntingly beautiful.
Another special treat awaited us one flight of stairs above the dining room, the Hospital was open! Lit by lanterns, the flickering light lent a mysterious air to this normally off limits area. The surgery room looked ready to go with an vintage (and terrifying) metal surgical table and cabinets stocked with gauze and medicines. The Hydrotherapy room was open for viewing and the actual cells where sick prisoners were open. The cell room in the Hospital had blood stains on the roof... Not real blood, Hollywood blood from Nicholas Cage filming the movie The Rock there.
We also saw the hospital cell where the Birdman of Alcatraz spent his final decades. He never had any birds on Alcatraz; the name was a carryover from Leavenworth.
The final special treat was a demonstration of the cell doors in D block. The guards demonstrated opening one door, two doors, a half floor of doors and then both sides of entire floor of doors. The slamming sound sent chills down our spines. This was the first sound prisoners heard in the morning and the last sound they heard at night. The most amazing thing about the doors, they're entire manual, no electronics. The guard stands at the end of the cell block, pushes the mechanical for the door or doors he intends to open, throws a large lever and the doors open in less than a second. More than one prisoner was seriously maimed or killed when they were trapped in the doors. Over 250 pounds each, an entire floor opening is over a ton and there's no stopping them once they start.
A late night stop at Denny's in Concord, which Race slept through, for dinner (Denny's in Concord is AWFUL, slow and dirty. We won't be going back.) and then home finally at 10:30. We're going to be tired tomorrow.
The pictures above are Elizabeth and Race in a cell on E block and the entire group at the main prison entrance.
