Alcatraz, California

I really doubt that I can say anything about Alcatraz that has not been said before. My wife and I agreed that this was the highlight of our trip to San Francisco. Its not that San Francisco is not amazing on its own, but Alcatraz is such a legendary landmark.

Before we caught the boat to go over to the little island, we had a very nice lunch at the restaurant near by. I am posting a picture I took of "The Rock" from the window view I had inside the restaurant.

Putting prisoners on an island a mile and a half off shore now almost seems like a mythic idea. It seems odd.

But there it is. Looking out across the Bay it looks so mysterious. You want to know more about it. You want to check it out.

You can also see the city from Alcatraz. One ranger told us that this could really get under the skin of a prisoner. They could see the lights of the city, and even hear the music. Still, they were a mile and a half away.

The island does have an abandoned feel, except for the gift shop and tourists. It is kind of in ruins, but still maintained. They have the self guided tour head sets, and they have park rangers giving history lessons.

We walked around a bit with a ranger who must have known everything about Alcatraz. I stumped him though asking if he had seen the latest America's Most Wanted segment on Morris and the Anglin brothers. He had not!

For what its worth, the Anglin brothers and Frank Morris are the only 3 guys who may or may not have escaped. This is still up for debate and it is unsolved.

They have a VERY cool gift shop there. I am a HUGE fan of postcards and nic nacs at gift shops. Books and other cool items were readily available here. You can actually buy pieces of Alcatraz from where they have been trying to restore certain areas. Author/former resident of Alcatraz Darwin Coon was there signing copies of his book, and talking about the time he spent as an inmate. See my other entry for a review of his great book.

We did take a San Francisco ghost walk tour, and our guide told us some about some of the ghosts on the island. I didn't see any myself, but I could tell the place would rank high on the creep-o-meter, especially in the evening or at night!

Movie fans will love Alcatraz just because it has been featured in so many films.

There is a lot of info on Alcatraz out there. It is worth a visit for everyone at least once in a lifetime. I hope to make it out there again sometime soon myself. Here are some pictures I took. Oh, and check out the Alcatraz entry on wikipedia for a stunning panoramic shot!

Book: Darwin E. Coon- Alcatraz: The True End of the Line

I read this book some time ago, but I thought it deserves a mention to go along with my Alcatraz post.

When I went to Alcatraz, signing his book in the gift shop was former Alcatraz resident, Darwin Coon. I had to pick up a copy, which the pleasant Darwin signed adding his prison number, and years at the Rock (59-63).

This is a great book giving a real inside look at Alcatraz, and the legal processes that brought Darwin Coon there (and out).

Darwin tells his story of life as a bank robber, and then he talks about his getting shuffled around the prison system. He eventually gets out of the whole legal system (with luck and some great legal knowledge). Not to give the story away, but Darwin starts going to church, and even raises some foster kids after getting things together! He was around during the Anglin brothers and Frank Morris' escape too!

Find a copy of this book. Its a real easy read, you can probably read it over a weekend. Darwin seems to be a very likable fellow who is socially minded and he really got his life together after making a few bad decisions.

Winchester Mystery House, California

I know, the Winchester Mystery House is no where near Kentucky. Not even close.

I did go out there a few years ago and took some pictures. I am not going to give the details about this place, as I think everyone is familiar with it. We all know that Sarah Winchester built the house, building it to the specifications advised by spirits during seances. Construction on the house was continuous for nearly four decades, ending pretty much at the moment of her death. Construction started in 1884.

Our tour guide pointed out that some areas looked literally like someone dropped what they were doing midway through a job.

There are stair ways leading to a dead end at the top of a ceiling. There are windows on the floor.


The place was without a doubt worth a visit if you make it to California.

Theatre Workshop of Owensboro

Not too long ago, Theatre Workshop of Owensboro took over the old theater on Frederica that used to be Goldie's Opryhouse. I was never in it when it was Goldie's as I had moved away from the area by that time. I do remember being a very young kid and seeing movies there when it was a movie theater.

By cousin Matt took me on a tour of the place recently. It is always exciting getting to see backstage areas, seeing how the lights work, etc.

It was exciting seeing how similar the theater was to the way I remember it! I think there is a lot of cool, original stuff in it that has been maintained well. Sure, some of the curtains and other things have aged, but everything still looked good. I really want to express that this place looks vintage, but it looks like those who have been in charge of it have done their best to keep it up.

I just checked the old Goldie's web site, and it hasn't been updated in some time, but it is still up! And, showing total class, there is a big endorsement of TWO's acquiring of the theater. She encourages the community to support Theatre Workshop of Owensboro.

http://www.goldiesopryhouse.com/index.htm

http://www.theatreworkshop.org/

Harland Sanders Cafe Corbin Kentucky

I was able to get down to Corbin recently, and stopped by the historic Sanders Cafe.

It wasn't overwhelming, but it was nice. There are some cases and other displays relating to Harlan. I had never seen the mask! I enjoyed checking out a signed pay check from Mr. Sanders.

This is a nice stop, especially since this is where Colonel Sanders started it all.

He started with a gas station, serving chicken in the back. Then he moved to a hotel/restaurant model.

http://www.corbinkentucky.us/sanderscafe.htm

I also stopped by Flea Land in London. This is a big flea market that is open every Saturday and Sunday. It has a lot to offer. There are many isles and there are hundreds of vendors.

Also, there was a garage down the road from the Sander's Cafe with the great tow truck made up to look like Mater from the film, "Cars"! Man, they did a great job!

Huntsville US Space & Rocket Center

I am not that great with history, but if I understand correctly, you can almost pinpoint the start of the Cold War to a few moments after World War II. Right at the end of that War, the Russians and Americans raced to a little area in Germany and plucked out their best scientific minds. I think both countries took whatever rocket scientists they could, promised not to hold that whole Nazi thing against them, and brought them to their countries.



In American, many of those scientists hung out in the Huntsville Alabama area doing rocket stuff.



They still do a lot of rocket research there. They also have the really cool US Space and Rocket Center.



Check out their website to read about all of the cool space artifacts on display. They have many rockets there. In fact, as we drove up to the area, the site of huge rockets pointed to the sky is a little scary. It reminded me of some apocalyptic movie.

The center has every bit of information you might ever want to know about rockets and space exploration.

They also do "Space Camp" here. I thought that looked pretty fun. We did see a few groups of kids running around in blue uniforms. I wasn't sure if they appreciated what they were getting, but Space Camp looked fun to me!













http://www.spacecamp.com/museum/

Utica Elementary School, Kentucky

I am not sure if many people care, but here are some pictures of my old school. Yep, my old elementary school. I have some great memories of this place.

I think about 250 other kids went here, and we all respected our teachers, and each other. This was a good place. I seem to drive past there every year or two still. I have a lot of love for the community there. My buddy Charlie's mom used to be the postmaster at the old post office across the street. He lived close by, and I remember walking to his house with him after school a time or two. I remember buying baseball cards at the general store there.

When I lived in a bigger city that I will not mention here, one of the doctors I worked with talked about having a child. I mentioned that I would not want to bring a child up in a big urban environment. I said that I would want them to go to a nice elementary school like the one I went to. The doctor jokingly tried to accuse me of wanting to shelter my child. I said to my doctor friend, "yes, I definitely would shelter them."

I don't know if I would say that I felt sheltered at Utica Elementary School, but I felt safe there. Also, looking back, I feel like the teachers there cared about the kids they were helping.

A friend's daughter went to Utica. I was at his house visiting one night. He had to go there for something, I forget what exactly, but he asked me if I would like to stop by there with him. You bet I did!

It was funny, my memory of the building was of it being huge! I remember the cafeteria being big enough to hold hundreds of students.

I remember the hallways were never ending.

I guess the building must have shrunk. The halls were smaller. Maybe 30 kids could cram into the lunch room.

I remember playing dodge ball in the gym, buying 5 cent erasers from the supply store in the morning before class, and the big Pirate (our mascot) painted in the entrance area.

I remember making Christmas ornaments out of clay and many other artsy projects.

I am really glad that I had the chance to go to school here.