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Whale Watching in California Each winter California welcomes the return of its official marine mammal, the gray whale, and many California State parks and beaches offer programs and locations for viewing the migrating whales. Many California destinations celebrate with special festivals. • Cabrillo National Monument Whale-Watch Weekend (January) at the end of Point Loma in San Diego. • Birch Aquarium's Whale Adventures (December - March) on the La Jolla shoreline. • West Marin's Whales, Wildlife and Wildflowers Festival (January - April) on Point Reyes National Seashore. • Ventura Harbor Village Annual Whale Celebration (February - March) at Ventura, with Channel Islands National Park or "America's Galapagos" just 14 miles offshore. • Cabrillo Marine Aquarium's Whale Celebration (February) at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro. • Santa Cruz Migration Festival, Natural Bridges State Park (February) along the Central Coast of California. • Oxnard's Celebration of the Whales/ Whale Watching Excursions (January - March) includes whale-watching excursions to the Channel Islands National Park. • And annual festivals at Dana Point (one of Southern California’s largest seafaring celebrations); Mendocino; Fort Bragg; and Santa Barbara. |
 ALCATRAZ "THE ROCK" : JUST VISITING As the ferry leaves infamous Alcatraz in its wake, a school choir on a day-outing bursts into song with "Danny Boy". As the haunting refrain hangs over the waters of San Francisco Bay one wonders for a moment why they chose this particular song until, near the end, these words: "... you must go and I must bide". The words embody such irony for those who spent their years there. SAN FRANCISCO HOTELS  Alcatraz, now a National Park, was once home to the likes of Al "Scarface" Capone and Robert "The Birdman" Stroud. They did hard time on "The Rock" between 1934 and 1963 when it was one of America's toughest maximum security prisons, surrounded by deep, shark-infested waters and treacherous currents. You remember The Birdman of course. He and Burt Lancaster were look-alikes. And just to shatter the illusion, although Stroud had indeed loved and studied birds at another prison, it was not in Alcatraz, although he was an inmate there. Alcatraz is a name derived from the Spanish la Isla de los Alcatraces (isle of the Pelicans). Since 1858 it has been a lighthouse and fort, a US military prison, an army disciplinary barracks, a federal penitentiary and an American Indian stronghold. Now a major San Francisc o tourist draw. One man who remembers many of the inmates is Frank Heaney, one of the youngest correctional officers ever to serve as a guard on Alcatraz and author of the book "Inside the Walls of Alcatraz". At age 21, Heaney found himself guarding some of America's toughest felons – those who couldn't be kept anywhere else. "What the hell am I getting myself into?" Heaney recalls thinking when he took the job back in 1948. It was not unusual for a new guard to quit soon after being hired. It was, by turn, "scary and boring", he recalls, and there was tremendous psychological pressure in working around the notorious inmates. Strictly enforced prison rules prohibited guards from conversing with convicts. But for young Heaney, the urge to speak with some of the legendary crime figures proved irresistible. He got to know "Machine Gun" Kelly, whom he remembers as an articulate, intelligent man – "more like a bank president than a bank robber". He found "Creepy" Corpus, Ma Barker's right-hand man, to be a "braggart", and "Birdman" Stroud, whom many thought to be psychotic, "untrustworthy", yet rational and bright. Even before you step on the ferry at Fishermen's Wharf you're immersed in Alcatraz hype. The shop at the pier is called Cell Block 41 which sells all things Alcatraz like black-and-white striped nightshirts and nickel-plated dangling handcuff-shaped earrings. Several of the visitors are wearing T-shirts which read Alcatraz Health Club - Swim for your Life and Penitentiary Swim Team. Swimming was the only way off the stern, forbidding rock of 12 acres. As the ferry nudges the dockside, the visitors (over a million every year) are greeted by a sign "United States Penitentiary" and scrawled over it, the graffiti "Indians Welcome", the only remaining relic of the island's occupation by Native Americans who claimed the island as their birthright and were finally evacuated in 1971. While they were there, many of the buildings were gutted by fire. But the main prison block is structurally intact. So is the windswept exercise yard with its concrete bleachers and towering walls topped by guard towers and catwalks. The cells (8.5 x 5-foot) are claustrophobic, stacked on top of each other like battery hens, each with a bunk, table and chair fixed to the wall, a washbasin and toilet. Nearby are the dreaded Holes where disruptive prisoners languished in inky blackness. For a dose of instant hysteria, step into one of these. As you look up in the vast dining room, tear-gas canisters mounted in the ceiling are poised overhead. But the view, through the bars, is almost unsurpassed. The food for the inmates wasn't bad. A chalked menu says there was assorted dry cereals, steamed whole wheat, scrambled eggs, fresh milk, stewed fruit, toast, bread, butter and coffee for breakfast on March 21, 1963. The path to the cell block is a steep one but the Easy Access program allows wheelchair visitors to "visit" the main cell block via a computer. Walk along the beautifully landscaped Agave Trail, winding it through a protected bird sanctuary, for some of the most spectacular views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate. The Agave Trail is open from late August to about mid-February, when bird-nesting season begins. The Birdman would be in his element. CALIFORNIA HOTELS Photo courtesy San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau by Jeff Greenberg |
ALL FEATURES Alabama Alabama Gulf Coast Alaska Cruising Southeast Alaska Arizona The Lure of The Grand Canyon Tombstone Arkansas Arkansas: The Natural State California Alcatraz "The Rock": Just Visiting A Sip of the California Delta Fisherman's Wharf Into the Blue of Lake Tahoe Movie Magic in California America's Food & Wine Capital California Offers Cool Shopping Sonoma Country Have a Whale of a Good Time Colorado As Colorado As It Gets! Connecticut Mystic Country DC Washington Washington DC's Monuments Delaware Delaware: The First State Florida Florida's Dynamic Downtowns Florida: Vacations for All Ages Greater Ft. Lauderdale Florida’s Gulf Island Coast Miami Luxury Hotels for Kids Too Orlando’ for Adults Too Georgia A Treasure on Georgia's Coast Columbus: A Genteel Rivertown Savannah: A Southern Belle Hawaii Hawaii's Big Island of Adventure Kauai: Adventures in Paradise The Many Faces of Maui Oahu's 112 Miles of Beaches Idaho Boise - Worth a Trip Illinois Chicago: Your Kind a' Town Get Your Kicks on Route 66 Indiana Indiana’s National Treasures Iowa Iowa’s Rich Landscape Kansas The Kansas Cowboy Experience Kentucky Folk Arts and Crafts Capital Louisiana New Orleans Carnival Baton Rouge Maine Outdoor Adventure in Maine Maine "Must-See" Maryland Historic Annapolis The Road Less Traveled Massachusetts A Massachusetts Getaway by the Sea Michigan Guide to Lansing's River Trail Minnesota Waterfalls Everywhere Mississippi Mississippi: Easy to Travel Missouri Route 66 Starts at St. Louis Montana Montana: Big Sky Country Nebraska Family and Frontier Fun Nevada Casino Getaways near Vegas Nevada's Intriguing State Parks Reno-Tahoe: Adventure Place New Hampshire Outdoor Adventure Summertime in New Hampshire New Jersey The Beach at Atlantic City New Jersey: Outdoor Adventures New Mexico Santa Fe: Chile Hot Art New York NYS Historical Amusement Parks New York's Cultural Treasures Nature’s Beauty at NYS Parks Niagara Falls and Beyond North Carolina Heart of Motorsports North Dakota Legendary Adventure Ohio Ohio: A World of Discovery Oklahoma A Walk on the Wild Side Oregon More Trails than Roads Pennsylvania Quirky Pennsylvania Scenic Pennsylvania Route 6 Rhode Island A Tiny Gem South Carolina Myrtle Beach South Dakota The Great Faces of South Dakota Tennessee Each Region so Different Tennessee For All Seasons Texas Texas: Arts and Culture Beaches of Texas On the Texas Forts Trail Texas Ranch Round-up Family Fun in Texas Utah Utah's Enduring Favorites Vermont Seasonal Vermont Virginia Virginia’s Historic Triangle Washington On the Water in Washington West Virginia Mountain State Heritage Wisconsin Explore Two Great Lakes Wyoming Better Than Your Dreams |
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