A closer view… We’d been warned by everybody to book our tour tickets way in advance (which we did), but the first week of December must’ve been the off-season because there were still day-of tickets available while we were there.

Snookums on the boat. Man, we were glad we brought our mitten/gloves!

When we got off the boat, a tour was starting so we joined it. A ranger walked us up the back side of the island while talking about what life was like for the guards and their families who lived there. Very informative and fun. Then we collected our Audio Tours and headed into the prison…

I think you really have to do the Audio Tour if you visit. There’s not a lot of signage in there and – while some of it was a little cheesy – it was cool hearing the voices of some of the prisoners. And people without the headsets just kinda wandered around aimlessly wondering what we were all staring at.

Ahh, the hardened-yet-repentent criminal mastermind, Rodd N. Snook.

You can hardly make me out in there, but I’m trying to look bored and surly.

Snookums gets all artistic with this shot of me on the prison grounds. We kept cracking ourselves up by saying “Alcamatraz…” the same way Homer Simpson says “Saxomaphone…”

Man, I miss those sunglasses. I bought ’em right before the trip and they broke in half somewhere on the journey home.

Me with the Golden Gate. You know, I’d heard San Francisco compared to Sydney many times, so I was interested to see the similarities. I have to say, I still think Sydney Harbour is prettier. San Francisco Bay is beautiful but it’s almost too big, too grand to be appreciated. Everything is too far away. Sydney’s got all the same attractions – awesome bridge, water views, cool skyline – but it’s all much closer and more accessible. It’s hard to describe unless you’ve seen both places.

Snookums has his turn with the bridge…