but they’ll make you glad you’re not in prison. They might make you wish you were driving south along Route 1 instead of sitting in front of a computer.

This weekend we visited Alcatraz…

and Monterey…

and a few places between the two.

I took some pictures, actually I took over a 100 pictures. Today, I am showing only 46 of them. If you want to see each one BIGGER, click on the thumbnails. The thumbs have been made smaller than usual in order to save on download time. If you’re on dial-up, I am so very sorry for your having somehow ended up here. Hell, if you’re on DSL I’m sorry. How totally not right of me to do such a thing.

Anyway, here we begin. Try and enjoy them. If I spelled something wrong, email me obscenities. I probably deserve them.

(Captions, if any, are below each picture)

This is a picture of the fog that sits around trees somewhere just south of Stinson Beach. It’s very possible to get all wound up back there and end up feeling sorta pukey. Speed limit signs read 45 but you’d have to be slightly estupidio to do such a thing. It’s like a pretzel back there.

Route 1 heading south now. These little houses are part of some Environmental Camping thing. I am not sure what it’s all about but feel compelled to do some research. If anyone has any ideas as to what these are and who you have to be to stay in one, please let me know.

This is my mother wondering what those huts are as well.

Along Route 1, you go from beach and sand to SUPER tall trees smothered in fog as thick as gravy, to rock formed cliffs jetting straight up from the sea, which are covered in more fog. And it’s chilly. Then, in less than 30 minutes, you find you’re with the sun and the surf warmed by temperatures in the upper 90s. It’s really quite interesting. If you’ve never been here, I highly recommend planning a vacation and driving up and down Route 1 sometime.

This is part of the 49 Mile Drive in San Francisco. We’re on the docks staring at boats and Alcatraz.

Toby and my father. Same spot.

These men were fishing. And they were happy.

This is a sailboat taken from the same spot. (For those of you who care, we’re in between Alcatraz and The Golden Gate Bridge).

Here we are at the base of the San Francisco side of the Golden Gate Bridge. There were more men fishing.

Not sure why this man wore a suit fishing. But oh well.

Like I said earlier, the climate changes abruptly here. This is heading south along Route 1. We’re just south of Half Moon Bay heading toward Monterey.

Again.

Toby, my mother and my father. Same spot.

Toby

And I believe this is called Wind-surfing. Which we’ve decided to try and learn while we live here. I am not sure how or how much it will cost, but I really want to try. It’s probably the one thing I can do without having an ear explosion if I fall – and we all know I’ll fall. This was taken about 10 miles north of Santa Cruz. (I have a 14 mg video of this dude in action if anyone’s interested).

We stopped at a little Taqueria right outside Santa Cruz. They serve fish tacos, beer and nachos to really tan people. I like this place.

Again.

This was taken at the Monterey Aquarium. Monterey was warm and sunny. And I took some pictures.

I may have gotten carried away by the Jellyfish. Only not really carried away because that would be terrifying. I got carried away in that “I took too many pictures” carried away.

This guy was called something like a Egg Yolk Jellyfish. I think for obvious reasons.

Here are some Sardines. At one point, during some crazy “I want to get rich American boom”, everyone moved to Monterey to sell and can Sardines. After some time of doing this, they nearly vanished. I guess our way of remembering this mistake is to put some in glass tanks and let them swim around and be watched.

By little blurry children and me.

Here are Toby and I again. He is wearing a mask. That’s not really his face. (And if you make jokes about that not being my real face, I will kick your ass).

The bubble girl again. I actually sorta dig this shot.

So much so, I put a second one up out of three.

Sharks.

Ok, so this was yesterday. We’re on our way to Alcatraz. These people got all our butts on the boat.

Toby and some little aryan child who liked to look at me take my pictures.

This is a boat. Through the boat and its many masts, you might see the Golden Gate Bridge.

Alcatraz and us.

Here we are on the Rock. The pictures from here on out are taken within the prison.

There were many parts we couldn’t go into “for our safety” so this was one of the many little houses that left me wondering why lay behind its windows. Here is one that featured some plastic toy. I took a picture of the plastic toy. I am left wondering things like “Whose hands last touched this plastic toy?” or “How did this plastic toy get there?” But I will never know. And that bugs me.

The main section of the prison seen through the trees and buildings.

Here is another dark window. What’s behind the window? How many hippies had sex behind that window?

And again. I like dark windows for some reason. Weird.

This is TobyJoe. He’s cute. I love him. I am glad he’s not in jail.

This is a cell in Alcatraz. Cozy, donchya think?

And there’s a toilet.

Here are some of the cells. I think this is the second and third floor.

A reflection of tourism.

A picture taken through the window facing the Golden Gate Bridge. I tried to capture the bridge. I could see it, but my camera couldn’t quite do it. Bummer. I’ll pretend it’s poetic.

An image taken into the kitchen. This place was “closed for our safety” too.

And this is the end of our trip. We were there until 9:30. Here is a picture of San Francisco at night. My camera doesn’t sport the best equipment, so it’s not a great photograph. But here it is anyway. I figured it was a nice way to end my post.

Now, I must go face the fact that my mom and dad have left and it’s quiet here again. And I miss them already and if I keep writing about missing them and the quietness then I will probably start to cry.

And I’m not at all sad.