Alcatraz cell block during a late afternoon tour
Alcatraz Island, commonly referred to as simply Alcatraz or locally as The Rock, is a small island located in the middle of San Francisco Bay in California, United States. It served as a lighthouse, then a military fortification, then a military prison followed by a federal prison until 1963. It became a national recreation area in 1972 and received landmarking designations in 1976 and 1986.

A view of San Francisco from a window in Alcatraz

Today, the island is a historic site operated by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and is open to tours. Visitors can reach the island by ferry ride from Pier 33, near Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Alcatraz has been featured in many movies, tv shows, books, comics, and games.

Alcatraz prison cells

You can view and purchase photos of Alcatraz Island here.

Nom Nom Nom – Chinatown, SF

I took close to 1,000 photos during a recent trip to San Francisco, and as such will be breaking them up into four separate posts broken-up by subject matter. Here are a couple I took while on foot in Chinatown and Fisherman’s Wharf respectively.

Kids riding the carousel in Fisherman’s Wharf

A quintessential San Francisco hipster

People boarding a San Francisco Trolley

You can view the rest of my street photos of SF here.

A couple of weeks ago we had a spell of unseasonably warm weather, and it was a good day to do something outside. Having been curious about it for awhile, Lindsey and I decided to go check out the Colorado Railroad Museum located in Golden, CO.

I didn’t have high expectations, but it was much bigger and much better than I expected. Rather than a few trains sitting around, they have a actually have a working railroad and many new projects underway.

You can view the rest of the images from the visit here.