Alcatraz Island across grey water from the approaching ferry, with the lighthouse and cellhouse on top, the Golden Gate Bridge faint in the haze at left and a small boat at right. — Alcatraz coming into view from the boat, ten minutes after we left Pier 33.

August 2021 · California

The Rock and the Redwoods

A few days off that began as a Yosemite plan and became the noon boat to Alcatraz, a day in San Jose, the four of us at the foot of a giant redwood, and a night in Santa Cruz.

When: August 12–15, 2021
Route: San Francisco → Alcatraz → San Jose → Apple Park → Santa Cruz → Capitola
Length: 4 days, 3 nights

We had August 12 to 16 free, and for a while the plan was Yosemite, then Sequoia and Kings Canyon, then almost anything else. Six versions of the break were written out, and most of them were booked and cancelled in turn.

What we actually did was the Santa Cruz and San Jose version: the noon boat to Alcatraz, two nights in the Bay Area, a morning in Kelley Park, then over the mountains for redwoods, the wharf and an evening in Capitola, and home by way of Apple Park.

The route

Drive Ferry Flight

1San FranciscoAug 12
2AlcatrazAug 12
3San JoseAug 12–13
4Apple ParkAug 15
5Santa CruzAug 14–15
6CapitolaAug 14

Highlights. Showing 32 of 78 photos.

Day 1Thursday, August 12

The noon boat to Alcatraz

1San Francisco 2Alcatraz 3San Jose

The noon boat to Alcatraz left us two hours to fill at Pier 39, and we filled them with sea lions: bronze ones to climb on, the four of us at the railing in front of the white ferries, and one long row of us on the weathered boards with Alcatraz low on the water behind. Friends of ours were with us for the day.

Two girls and a masked boy in a blue jacket sit and stand on a bronze sculpture of sea lions, with a Blue and Gold Fleet boat and blue shopfronts behind. — On the bronze sea lions, a Blue and Gold ferry behind.

Four people pose at a wooden railing in front of a white ferry, one girl holding her mask, with the bay and hills behind. — The four of us at the railing in front of a Blue and Gold ferry.

Five people stand in a row on weathered pier boards, a boy in a blue jacket raising a water bottle, with Alcatraz Island and the hills across the bay behind. — In a row on the weathered boards, Alcatraz at the far left.

Then we wandered west into Fisherman's Wharf, past the round wharf sign, and sat at outdoor tables at a Boudin Bakery café with sourdough bread bowls and sandwiches.

The queue at Pier 33 was already filling the courtyard when we got there, and ten minutes after the boat pulled out we were on Alcatraz.

A courtyard with a blue Board Here banner, roped queue lines and white umbrellas, and Coit Tower and a pointed skyscraper above the trees. — The courtyard filling up, Coit Tower and the Transamerica Pyramid over the trees.

Filing down the gangway to the Alcatraz boat.

Passengers at a ferry rail look toward a long bridge and a green island across hazy water, two girls among them in masks and, between them, a woman in a teal cap and a light blue jacket. — On the top deck, the Bay Bridge in the haze.

Four people crowd together on an open ferry deck, one hugging another, with a hazy city skyline and bridge behind them. — The four of us crowded together on the open deck, the city behind us.

A pale cellhouse and a dock below a lighthouse and water tower on an island, under a low grey sky. — The dock and the long cellhouse under the lighthouse, just after we tied up.

With distancing in the cellhouse there were markers on the floor and masks on nearly everyone. We walked the long corridor of Michigan Avenue with audio-tour phones at our ears, read the Famous Inmates panel with Al Capone on it and the story of the June 1962 escape, and finished in the gardens by the water tower and the old power-house chimney.

Wind-blown masked faces, including a boy in a blue jacket at left, crowd the foreground at a viewing rail beside two information signs, with a city skyline and a bridge hazy across the water. — Wind in our faces at the overlook, San Francisco hazy across the water.

Two masked girls stand between tall tiers of cells, with other visitors further down the corridor and a stanchion rope at the right. — In the long corridor of Michigan Avenue.

A smiling man with sunglasses on his head and his mask pulled down puts an arm around a masked girl in front of tiers of cells. — Masks down for a moment in front of the cell blocks.

Looking through bars into a small cell with a striped mattress on a bunk, a sink at the back and pale green walls. — A cell with a striped mattress on a steel bunk.

Visitors in masks line up with audio-tour phones in a long corridor between two tiers of cells, with distancing markers on the floor. — Audio-tour phones at every ear, distancing markers on the floor.

A close selfie of a man with sunglasses on his head and a mask pulled down, with visitors walking away in a cell-block corridor behind him. — A selfie in the cell-block corridor, mask below the chin.

Half of a man's face with sunglasses pushed up and a mask beside a Famous Inmates panel with mugshots and a caption naming Al Capone. — A selfie next to the Al Capone panel.

A National Park Service panel titled Isolation hangs on the bars of a cell, with a quotation from a former officer about the Hole. — The Isolation panel on a D Block cell: "He'd go to the Hole."

An exhibit panel titled Escape from Alcatraz with wanted posters, a spoon and a photograph of a dummy head on a bunk. — The 1962 escape panel, with wanted posters and a spoon.

Through chipped, peeling cell bars, a green-walled cell with a dummy head on the pillow behind glass, a sink and a small card. — The dummy head on the pillow, behind glass beside the exhibit.

A gravel path through flowering gardens toward a tall chimney, with a steel water tower at left, visitors ahead and hills across the bay. — The gardens above the water, the water tower and the power-house chimney beyond.

Back on the mainland we walked along the Wharf to the cable-car turnaround at Taylor and Bay and posed on the open side of a Powell-Mason car, then went up into Chinatown and on to Washington Square in North Beach. By evening we were back at Pier 39 under the Mirror Maze sign.

A masked girl stands at a black counter in a coffee shop with shelves of tumblers and packaged coffee behind her and sunlit windows at left. — A coffee shop along the Wharf, shelves of tumblers behind the counter.

Passengers sit and stand on the open side of a cable car, two masked girls at the front and a woman in a wide-brimmed hat on the bench. — On the open side of a Powell-Mason car.

A masked girl in a white hoodie holds the pole at the step of cable car number 10, with its yellow Powell and Market, Bay and Taylor sign and another girl behind her. — Holding the pole at the step of car number 10.

Four people pose at a wooden railing on a pier in soft evening light, with a mirror maze sign, a yellow building and a tower on the hill behind. — The four of us at the railing in the evening light, Coit Tower on the hill behind.

The practical bits Parked in the Pier 39 garage for the day; Alcatraz City Cruises for the noon Day Tour from Pier 33. Two nights in the Bay Area.

Day 2Friday, August 13

A day in San Jose

3San Jose

In the morning we drove into the city to Kelley Park, the big park by Coyote Creek, and spent an hour at the History Park end of it: a covered wagon in a gravel yard, a Flying Tigers banner on a fence, and the yellow Victorian house of the Viet Museum, with two wooden boats on display under the trees, the Hai Nhuan and the Tan Phat.

A banner on a chain-link fence honoring the Flying Tigers who died defending China, with a rainbow lens flare, a lawn and tall trees behind. — A Flying Tigers banner on a fence, a rainbow of lens flare over the lawn.

A woman with an arm around each of two girls, masks pulled down, in front of a covered wagon on a gravel yard beside a wooden fence. — In front of a covered wagon, masks pulled down.

A woman and two girls stand on a lawn before a yellow Victorian building marked Viet Museum, with flags and a red garden gate beside them. — On the lawn in front of the Viet Museum.

A woman and two girls pose beside a large wooden boat with the name Hai Nhuan painted on its side, under big shade trees. — Beside the Hai Nhuan, a wooden boat on display under the trees.

A man and two girls stand in front of a wooden boat named Tan Phat, with a tire fender on its side and an aloe plant at its foot. — With the Tan Phat, a tire fender on its side.

A woman and two girls smile in front of a green Welcome to Viet Museum sign under a red roof, among white flowering shrubs. — Under the red roof of the Welcome to Viet Museum sign, among the white flowers.

Lunch was at a small restaurant with yellow walls and big potted plants, Bun Bo Hue An Nam, named for bun bo hue, the spicy beef noodle soup.

Two masked girls sit at a maroon table with green laminated menus in a small restaurant with yellow walls and big potted plants. — A maroon table, green menus and yellow walls.

Then an hour at Valley Fair, the big mall, and the rest of the day in.

Racks of beige and black sweatshirts and a table of pink and blue tops inside a clothing store, with a Sale sign and posters behind. — Racks of sweatshirts in a Forever 21 at Valley Fair.

The practical bits Second night in the Bay Area.

Day 3Saturday, August 14

Beside a giant redwood

5Santa Cruz 6Capitola

We took the long way to Santa Cruz, over the mountains and into a redwood grove near Felton, where the first thing we found was the slab: a slice of an enormous redwood with its cracks and rings filling a wooden frame. We lined up in front of it in twos.

Two girls stand in front of a giant redwood cross-section slab under a wooden shelter, its cracks and tree rings filling the frame. — In front of the redwood slab under its wooden shelter.

A man in a gray T-shirt with a red bear and a girl with her mask pulled down stand in front of a huge redwood slab, with an information panel on the post at right. — Two more at the slab, an information panel on the post.

Then the dirt trail, with a split-rail fence along one side and tall trunks in filtered light.

A woman in a wide-brimmed hat stands between two girls on a dirt trail lined with tall trees and a rustic fence. — On the dirt trail, tall trees and a rustic fence alongside.

A man with sunglasses on his head and two girls pose on a trail with tall redwood trunks and a split-rail fence behind them. — A moment later, the split-rail fence behind.

A massive redwood trunk with ferny green undergrowth at its foot rises out of the frame, with other redwoods to the right. — A single redwood trunk, its foot lost in ferns.

A man in a gray T-shirt and shorts stands on a wide dirt trail among towering redwoods, with other visitors walking away behind him. — Small beside the trees on the wide trail.

The best picture of the day is the four of us, very small, at the foot of an enormous redwood trunk. Around it are the arch where two fire-blackened trunks lean together, trees seen from underneath with the sun breaking through, a low fence around a burled base with a round marker on it, and one selfie, cheek to cheek.

Four people stand very small at the foot of a giant redwood whose fused trunks rise out of the frame above a dark hollow. — The four of us at the foot of the giant redwood, fused trunks rising above a dark hollow.

A path passes between fire-blackened redwood trunks that lean together into an arch, with a wooden fence and sunlit forest beyond. — The arch where two burned trunks lean together.

A girl with her mask in her hand stands small on a dirt path beneath leaning, charred redwood trunks, with a fence and green forest visible through the arch. — Small under the charred arch, mask in hand.

Looking up a cluster of tall redwood trunks around a large stump, with the sun breaking through the canopy and a low wooden fence at the bottom. — Looking straight up a cluster of trunks around an old stump.

Low sun flares through the canopy above a sunlit dirt path with a wooden rail fence, with redwood trunks rising on the right. — Low sun through the canopy over a path with a rail fence.

The huge burled base of an old redwood behind a split-rail fence, with a round trail marker numbered 07 in front and forest beyond. — The burled base of an old redwood, marker number 07 in front.

A close selfie of a woman in clear-framed glasses and a navy jacket cheek to cheek with a smiling girl in a striped top, her mask under her chin. — Cheek to cheek in the grove.

A girl stands small on a sunlit dirt clearing in front of a single tall redwood, with benches, rail fences and other visitors at its foot. — A sunny clearing with benches, in front of one tall redwood.

By noon we were in downtown Santa Cruz, where we passed the Welcome to Santa Cruz sign and had lunch at a tiki-themed restaurant, with a carved wooden lamp on the table and a palm-print booth.

A green Welcome to Santa Cruz sign listing its partner cities beside a board of service-club emblems including Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions. — Welcome to Santa Cruz, with its partner cities and the service-club emblems.

A carved wooden tiki lamp with a burlap shade beside a cocktail menu card and a hand-soap bottle on a dark wood table, with bamboo walls in the window behind. — A carved tiki lamp on the lunch table.

A woman in a mask and a girl looking at her phone sit side by side in a palm-print booth, with a drink glass in the foreground. — Side by side in the palm-print booth.

Then we walked a mile and a half out to the end of the wharf, with the beach and the roller coaster of the Boardwalk behind us and sea lions resting on the pilings below.

A woman in a wide-brimmed hat and two masked girls pose at a white wharf railing, with a sandy beach, the Boardwalk buildings and a roller coaster across blue water behind them. — At the wharf railing, the Boardwalk across the water.

Two masked girls and a man with sunglasses on his head sit close together on a wooden bench at a white railing, with sailboats and coastal cliffs behind. — A rest on a bench at the wharf railing.

Two sea lions rest on a wooden beam under a wharf, seen over a white railing above green-blue water. — Two sea lions resting on a beam under the wharf.

That evening we drove a few miles east to Capitola: the Mijo's Taqueria awning on a corner of the square, the lagoon at the mouth of Soquel Creek, the pastel Venetian Court cottages, and the wharf in low evening sun.

A cream and stone corner building with a maroon Mijo's Taqueria awning and an Open sign, with a bench outside, palm trees and a village square in evening sun. — The Mijo's Taqueria awning on the corner of the village square.

Two masked girls sit on a wooden bench against a stone wall outside a taqueria while a man in a navy shirt steps in through the door behind them. — On the bench outside Mijo's.

Looking down a creek mouth to a beach, a wharf and a row of purple, teal and pink cottages, with ducks on the water and a fog bank at the horizon. — The creek mouth, Capitola Wharf and the Venetian Court cottages, a fog bank on the horizon.

A still lagoon with waterfront restaurants on stilts at left, gulls on the water, a sandy beach at right and a person sitting on the sea wall. — The still lagoon, someone on the sea wall photographing it.

A girl in a sun hat stands with her arms crossed on a pink walkway beside a sea wall, with another girl behind her photographing the lagoon and beach. — Arms crossed in a sun hat on the pink walkway, the lagoon behind.

A woman and a girl hug against a lavender scalloped stucco wall with a purple door framed in turquoise, the girl's sun hat in her hand. — A hug against the purple-and-turquoise wall of a Venetian Court cottage.

Two girls lean on the bottom rail of a hand-painted wooden frame decorated with kelp, fish and a turtle, posing on a wharf's boards with an arched gate and strollers behind them. — Leaning on a hand-painted frame of kelp, fish and a turtle on the wharf boards.

Terraced waterfront restaurants with diners on their decks are reflected in still water, with a fog bank behind the beach. — Evening light on the terraced restaurants over the creek.

Two girls lean together on the wooden railing of a wharf in low sun, with the beach, surf and pastel cottages behind them. — At the wharf railing in low sun, the surf and cottages behind.

Pink, green and turquoise cottages above a beach, seen past a weathered wharf railing with small green plaques. — The pink, green and turquoise cottages of Venetian Court, seen past the wharf railing.

A dark iron railroad trestle crossing a creek above still, green-fringed water and creekside houses with small boats, in soft evening light. — The railroad trestle over Soquel Creek, upstream of the village.

A girl in a white cardigan stands with her hands in her pockets against a bright pink stucco wall with a turquoise-framed window and a relief carving above. — A bright pink stucco wall with a turquoise window frame.

The practical bits Hyatt Place Santa Cruz, one night. Parked near the beach and walked out the wharf.

Day 4Sunday, August 15

Apple Park, then home

5Santa Cruz 4Apple Park

First we checked out of the Hyatt Place and drove out along West Cliff Drive to its far end at Natural Bridges.

It was foggy that morning. From the railing above the beach we could see the arch rock crowded with cormorants beside a broken sandstone span, and we took a run of pictures against it in twos and threes, plus a selfie beside the parking sign.

A foggy morning at a beach with a rock arch crowded with cormorants beside a broken sandstone span, surf on the sand and iceplant in the foreground. — The arch and the broken span in the fog, iceplant in the foreground.

A girl in a white hoodie stands at a fence with an arch rock and cormorants behind her, another girl looking out to sea beside a 20 Minute Parking sign. — At the fence, the arch rock behind, and a 20 Minute Parking sign.

A man in a blue plaid flannel shirt hugs a girl in a white hoodie, a second girl in glasses beside them, at a railing above a beach with a rock arch in fog behind. — A hug at the railing, the arch rock in the fog behind.

A woman in a navy hoodie holds two girls close at a railing above the misty sea, with an arch rock behind them and a gull at the left edge. — Close together above the misty sea.

A selfie of a man in a blue plaid flannel shirt and a smiling girl in a striped top at an overlook, with an arch rock and a 20 Minute Parking sign behind them. — A selfie above the parking signs.

Then back over the mountains to Cupertino. We saw the Apple Park ring from the car first, over a fence and a hillside of shrubs, and then spent a while at the Visitor Center: olive trees and the glass pavilion, a Mac Pro in the store, pink headphones and silver AirPods Max to try on, and the rooftop terrace with a grove of redwoods and the long curve of the ring beyond.

Through a car window, a glass ring building above a hillside of shrubs and a cable-rail fence, with a man's hands holding a phone in the foreground. — Our first look at the ring, through the car window.

The curved glass ring of a large building seen over a cable-rail fence and landscaped shrubs, with a white service road curving in front, under a pale sky. — The ring from the road, over the cable fence and the shrubs.

A man in a brown T-shirt stands between two masked girls under olive trees in front of a glass pavilion, with a rainbow staircase glimpsed inside. — Under the olive trees in front of the Visitor Center.

A woman in a navy hoodie puts an arm around one masked girl and hugs another in front of a pavilion's glass wall and a rainbow staircase. — In front of the glass wall and the rainbow staircase.

A Mac Pro tower with a lattice case beside a large display, a keyboard and a mouse on a pale wood table, with walls of phone cases and headphones behind. — A Mac Pro and a Pro Display on a pale wood table.

A girl holds pink over-ear headphones to her ear while a woman looks on beside her and another girl fills the foreground, with a rainbow staircase and display shelves behind. — Trying on pink headphones.

A selfie of a man in a face mask and brown T-shirt wearing silver over-ear headphones in front of a wall of colored ear cushions and headbands. — Silver AirPods Max, in front of a wall of colored ear cushions.

A man in a brown T-shirt and two girls stand on a wooden rooftop terrace beside a glass railing, with tall redwoods behind them and a long curved building in the distance. — On the rooftop terrace, the ring in the distance.

Lunch was takeout noodles at a picnic table under trees in a park, bowls and a bubble-tea cup and a Chinese takeout carton spread across it. Then the road home.

A woman eats noodles with chopsticks beside a girl in a striped top at a stone picnic table under trees, with takeout bowls, cups, a water bottle and a takeout carton spread around. — Takeout noodles at a stone picnic table.

A girl in a striped top eats noodles across the table from a masked girl in glasses lifting a forkful of noodles, with a bubble-tea cup and a black straw between them and a park lawn behind. — A forkful across the table, a bubble-tea cup in between.

The practical bits Natural Bridges, then the Apple Park Visitor Center; home by mid-afternoon.