Ignorant Historian

Since I wrote about Day 1 and 2 so far, you probably think I’m going to write about day 3. WRONG. Why are you wrong? Because I wrote about Day 3 here. Remember the “half-mile walk?” This picture is further evidence we weren’t where we were supposed to be. It’s never a good idea to follow a rock climber when you have no intentions of climbing rocks.

Moving on to Day 4, Tuesday. This was our first full day in San Francisco. We went to Pier 39 and the aquarium as well as Chinatown.

The aquarium was neat. Everyone but me took the opportunity to touch rays, sharks, and other underwater creatures. I refrained. I’ve never been one for touching animals. Instead, I opted to watch. Who said you have to do to learn?

I loved going to Chinatown. It just increases my desire to go to the real place someday. Hopefully that will be sooner, rather than later. We had originally planned on eating dinner there, but it was only about 3 o’clock so we headed home instead (I think, my details are a little blurry). I do believe that this was the day that we made a wrong turn and headed across a bridge we didn’t need to take… It took us an hour and a half just to get back, thanks to Bay area traffic.

For dinner we went for the first time ever as a family to a Chinese restaurant. My dad’s a very picky eater, and Riley and I are somewhat as well (we learned from the master). While Riley and I have since grown up to like Chinese, we never ate it as kids. It was a neat experience going together, even if my Dad ordered American-style breakfast. At least he stepped inside the place…and said we needed to come back later in the week, which we did.

Day 5, Wednesday, we went to Angel Island and Alcatraz. Having little to nothing to do with the actual planning of the trip, I didn’t even know what Angel Island was. I was told it was the Ellis Island of the West which it was (among many other things), but I was rather disappointed on that front. Many of you have realized that I love history, so I was excited to see this place where history was made. Unfortunately, the renovations of the immigration station is still underway (though it looks like it hasn’t been worked on in months). I understand why the government is not in a hurry to open up the place where thousands of Chinese immigrants were stalled and mistreated, but the Asian migration into this country is a little-told tale that needs to be recognized. Take a look around you; there’s a reason why our population today is not 100% European and African, and frankly I’m glad that it’s not.

Alcatraz was neat. We got headphone sets like we did in the redwood forest. That definitely appealed to my history-buffness (not to be confused with actual buffness). My family got to pondering whether or not we would rather be in one of the normal cells or in solitary confinement. Mom said she’d rather be in solitary confinement and away from the people. Considering those that you would be locked up with, that makes sense, but I tend to get lonely all by myself for extended periods of time (more than one day). To live like that day in and day out would be hard. Besides, you would have a cell by yourself regardless, so I could handle that even if in actuality I was in a huge room with other people. All the other noises would kinda blend in together.

So what about you? Would you rather be in solitary confinement, or in a cell with other prisoners?

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