Erin's Journals

Before I get to today’s journal, as I lie in bed here in Oregon trying to sort through pictures to share with you, researching things about our trip so that I can pass on facts instead of just thoughts, I am reflecting on the heavy rains that hit so many parts of my former “hometown” last night. I am hoping you were spared the ravages of such a torrential downpour yesterday and if not, that you have the help you need to recover. 
 
Today’s journal is about a place surrounded by water, by design: Alcatraz. 
 

 
The name comes from the Spanish “Isla de los Alcatraces” – Island of the Pelicans – and those big prehistoric-looking birds sure do make themselves known. In fact, with no known predators, birds (mostly gulls, herons and cormorants) on this famous rock in the San Francisco Bay really do have the run of the place! It was wonderful to watch them and dodge their missiles. Here you see them just hanging out on the rock below.
 

 
Of course, the main attraction for some one million visitors annually to this national park is the maximum-security jail that housed prisoners (including Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly) between the years 1934 and 1963. It was a military installation and lighthouse in the 19th century, but when it became too costly to maintain as such, was converted to the famous prison that we’ve seen in so many movies.
 
Rob and I “crammed” for our visit by watching The Rock with Sean Connery, Nic Cage and Ed Harris (an over-the-top shoot-em-up from 1996 with far too thin a plot and no real resemblance to the prison itself), and Escape From Alcatraz, definitely shot on the island and in the actual prison, and starring Clint Eastwood from 1979. 
 

 
I didn’t get a chance to ask, but it would seem the Eastwood movie was an excuse for Alcatraz to get a bit of a sprucing up with a fresh coat of cream and green paint, to look as it would have in 1962. (An occupation by Native Americans reclaiming their land from 1969 to 1971 likely also changed the inside of the prison, as well as the outside, where Parks personnel have made sure that their markings and painted statements have been maintained and restored over the years). But to our eyes, the Alcatraz we saw in the 1979 movie was very much like the one we saw in 2018.
 
I can’t imagine anyone – including those protestors – choosing to make that wind-buffeted island their home. The prison was cold and inhospitable – inside and out – even on a perfect August day. As birds hung on stiff breezes like socks on a clothesline, we shivered in the same prison yard where inmates would play baseball and otherwise kill time during their precious outdoor hours. 
 

 
Included in the $39 cost of admission were boat transportation and a fascinating guided audio tour, available through headsets and in several languages. It was some of the best money we’ve spent as tourists; way better than the $10 we paid to drive through a tree (!) and we’ll show you that later this week or early next.
 

 
Through this narration (which followed a short Discovery Channel film we were offered the opportunity to watch upon entering Alcatraz) we learned of uprisings and murders, thwarted escapes and the dreadful daily rituals and details of life on The Rock. Some of the cells were furnished as they would have been at the time of the prison’s operation, from the trappings of music nights (including the accordion you see on the bed)…
 

 
…to the tools of a would-be artist allowed to indulge in his hobby of painting. (I say “his” because no female prisoners or guards were on the island.)
 
A glimpse into a solitary confinement cell, as well as narration describing how one survived it, was certainly disconcerting. Me, I prefer the airiness of a nice, regular cell, thanks. 
 

 
As for privacy, how about these for showers twice a week? In that cold air (and you can bet the water wasn’t much warmer) I don’t know how much I’d look forward to that. Especially when a knife went missing from the kitchen and, oh yes, they most certainly did, on occasion.
 

 
Fascinatingly, we were informed that for families of the wardens and staff who resided there, life was somewhat idyllic: children took a boat back to the mainland for school every day and enjoyed a unique upbringing on that most infamous island. Now, the warden’s home is in ruins, a victim of neglect and nasty weather.
 

 
There’s no doubt that Alcatraz is as haunting today as it probably was the day they closed it due to the ravages of time and weather on its structure in 1963 – especially in the lower level where Rob and I wandered while others took tours.
 

 
Kudos to the US National Parks Service, its employees and volunteers for the work they do keeping the area beautiful, right down to its gardens.
 
If you do decide to go to Alcatraz, be sure to book months in advance; we reserved our spots three months ago. During our last trip to San Francisco in 2012, we couldn’t get on the island, but took a boat tour around it. This was so much better and I encourage you to see it for yourself if you get a chance, if only for the view of San Francisco! (Inmates said that some nights, if the winds were right, you could hear the laughter and parties happening back in the city, especially on New Year’s Eve. Imagine the loneliness that would invoke!)
 

 
Tomorrow: a chance encounter in the dining hall for Rob and me (a small world story to be sure) plus some favourite photos from San Francisco to share with you. Come on back – enjoy the free tours!
 

Greetings from the road! Since last we were together, we’ve done and seen so much – it’s almost impossible to chronicle it all. So I’ll try to keep it to the things you might find most interesting, and we’ll go from there!
 
10 days from now, Jeff Lynne’s ELO (Electric Light Orchestra for anyone who wasn’t around in the 70s for their days of mega-hits) will be playing in Toronto. I hope that if you’re a fan, you got tickets, because it was an amazing show. And it’s ELO’s first North American tour in 0ver 30 years.
 

 
Quite apart from the $7 US per small bottle of water charged at the Oracle Arena, the experience was like most every other concert. We were 20th row on the floor and I found myself wishing I was closer, but was still grateful even to be there.
 
After an opening performance by the band Dawes (whose lead singer, I’m told, is dating This is Us star Mandy Moore) 13 performers – including three women on strings and a female singer – took the stage at around 9:15 pm. The show was about 90 minutes of great rock and roll memories. Mr. Lynne himself is somewhat of a shy performer, so there wasn’t a lot of banter or movement on stage from the headliner himself.
 
We didn’t expect P!NK-style acrobatics, Beyoncé dance moves or a part of the stage extending into the arena. The sold-out crowd, made up mostly of 50+ aged fans like Rob and me, spent the majority of the night on its feet, dancing, singing along and cheering to hits like “Roll Over Beethoven” (the encore), “Telephone Line” and “Turn to Stone”. The only ELO mega-hit the band didn’t perform (that stuck out to us) was “Strange Magic” and I’m guessing that the high range of that song’s vocals was what prevented it from making the lineup.
 
While Lynne’s not hitting the high notes that he did 40 years ago (few are!) his male backup vocalist filled in a lot of the time. He could have filled in more, in our opinion, but that may come later in the tour. As it was, the band was tight and pitch perfect, and one would never know it was the opening show in the ten-show run. As Lynne pointed out, a lot of work went into preparing for this performance.
 
Just as we were dismayed by the industrial area setting of Oakland-Alameda County’s baseball home (although delighted to see the Jays reward far flung Canadian fans in Seattle with some wins), the Oracle next door had its shortcomings, too. We got to the home of the back-to-back NBA champ Golden State Warriors two hours before the show, so as to enjoy dinner in a restaurant at the stadium, only to find that we couldn’t enter until one hour before showtime. We scarfed down burgers and fries in a wide open public space and watched in shock as a man paid $32US for a double margarita. Sure hope it was a good one and that his Cuervo Gold had actual gold in it!
 
Despite a huge crowd on the train platform, we made it onto the first one that came along after the show and 40 minutes later we were back to the free parking lot at the North Berkeley train station. How nice to be rewarded for taking transit! All in all, we were more than satisfied with the ELO experience and are glad the band gave us a reason to build a trip around a concert.
 
If you’re interested, there’s a great ELO concert DVD out there, as well as a documentary about the band’s founder himself called Mr. Blue Sky. And oh yes, they did that song too – as well as a Traveling Wilburys hit (“Handle With Care”). Here’s the entire set list, if you’re interested. And I’d urge you not to see that DVD before the show: allow yourself to open your musical presents along with thousands of others, rather than knowing what to expect!
 
Standin’ in the Rain (here’s a YouTube link to a performance of this song in Sheffield, England) 
Evil Woman
All Over the World
Showdown
Do Ya
When I Was a Boy (2015)
Livin’ Thing
Handle With Care
Rockaria!
Can’t Get It Out of My Head
10538 Overture
Xanadu
Shine a Little Love
Wild West Hero
Sweet Talkin’ Woman
Telephone Line
Don’t Bring Me Down
Turn to Stone
Mr. Blue Sky
Encore: Roll Over Beethoven
 
The next day, we checked out of our Holiday Inn in Berkeley, situated in a rather rough area of the town but within walking distance of a charming downtown. We strolled the streets and enjoyed live musicians busking, stepped around and past homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks, and took in the college town vibe of this city that has given the world hot tubs (Jacuzzi), lattes, the computer mouse, flu vaccines and the band Green Day.
 
We spent the following afternoon in one of the world’s most famous (now defunct) prisons: tomorrow, we’ll take you to the streets of San Francisco and out on its picturesque bay as we head to Alcatraz. Bye for now from the California coast!
 

Hey there – welcome to the Friday of this sweet August long weekend! I’m so glad you came by.
 
Now, as I told you yesterday, Rob and I were out dancing and singing and having the time of our lives at the kickoff of Jeff Lynne’s short ELO tour. He hits Toronto on August 18th at the Scotiabank (formerly ACC) Arena, if you want to try to get tickets for his only Canadian stop.
 
Since we were out late last night, I decided not to try to rush a journal for today. But I promise it’ll be worth the wait. So what I’ve done is go back to one that I often think about (and hear about): our most unusual way to prepare corn during this sweet season of beautiful bounty.
 
There are photos and a description, but I promise if you try it, you won’t be disappointed. On a hot day, it sure helps out in the kitchen and the mess of silk and husks is greatly reduced as well, since the cob just slides right out. But I’ll let this “greatest hits” journal tell the story.
 
In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy every moment – whether it’s exciting or just catching your breath – I’ll have more for you here on Tuesday, and there will be stories from (hopefully) the Napa Valley and, of course, Alcatraz! Bucket list items galore here.
 
Thank you so much for being here with me every day. 
 
Oh, and enjoy that corn! Here’s a link to the journal. 
 

Ah, well…at least it was a beautiful day to be sitting outdoors. Sunshine, 20C and we enjoyed every second of it. The weather, that is.
 
After a 12-minute walk to the North Berkeley BART station from our hotel in this university town, our trip to the ballpark took about 35 minutes. We had opted to stay outside Oakland and San Francisco, as it allowed us easy transit to the ballgame yesterday and to tonight’s concert.
 
I couldn’t resist taking this man’s picture when I saw him on the train. With Rob’s encouragement, I got up and went to talk to him.
 

 
Turns out Robert is an usher at A’s games and I think, judging by that moustache, maybe a big Catfish Hunter fan, too! He was lovely.
 
We got there an hour early, in time for us to watch the grounds crew hose down the field…
 

 
…the Jays take some pre-game stretches and do some other exercises….
 

 
…and to catch up a bit with Sportsnet radio’s play-by-play and call-in host Mike Wilner. He saw I’d tagged him in a tweet and arranged to come down to our seats to say hello before the game began. I’m a big fan of Mike and it was really good of him to take the time to come and visit.
 

 
Now, here’s something that happened at the game that I’ve never experienced: a safety announcement. We were told, section by section, what our evacuation route was. In our case, we were to go back into the Coliseum and go through to Gate C to exit to the outdoors. I’m sorry, but if the “big one” hits and I’m 8 rows from the field, you’d better man that wall, because I’m going onto the field. I don’t care if the Jays are executing a triple play, move over Morales, ’cause this gal’s getting into open space.
 
Of course, the only disaster that happened yesterday was an 8-3 loss at the hands of the A’s, completing the sweep as the Jays head into Seattle. We followed one group of Jays fans to our gate; they’d driven down from Alberta.
 

 
The midday crowd was sparse (peppered by about 800 children on Camp Day, which was fun to be a part of) and talk about phoning it in: after having anthem singers on Monday and Tuesday nights, they just played an instrumental version of “O Canada” and a recording of a men’s a capella rendering of “The Star Spangled Banner.” Gee, the least they could have done was have the kids sing, or put on a PA announcement asking if there was an anthem singer in the house. I totally would have done it (for a Randal Grichuk hug)!
 

 
The run-down area in which the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum is situated, which is also where the NFL’s Raiders play, has all of the charm of a country dump (without the hope of getting free stuff when you leave). You get off the train and traverse a long walkway over what really does look like an industrial waste site (I’m sure it’s not), but it had all of the same sad ambience.
 
Then you get to the tired, faded, drab olive green stadium where once gold and green flags that have bleached to a peach colour fly in the outfield breezes. Yes, the grass looks great and there are two high-def screens, but oh, this place needs a makeover – or a take-under.
 
By comparison, there’s a lot of concrete and not a whole lot of old time charm to the Rogers Centre, but if team spirit and support at home (and away, for that matter) made for wins, Jays fans would guarantee at least a wild card spot every season. We sat among several Jays fans but our cheers didn’t help and the team just couldn’t come from behind all game long. Social media rumblings had yesterday as Gibby’s last game as Jays’ manager; as you read this today, you’ll know if it’s true. 
 
Down 7-0, we left in the 7th and got on the BART to go home. So goes another “away” game for Erin and Rob. Counting last year’s two wins out of three in Seattle, we’ve now seen them win as visiting team twice out of…let’s see, Boston, Cleveland, Seattle and Oakland…six games. Sorry guys; I’m about as lucky as a rabbit’s foot on the Titanic captain’s key chain.
 
I can’t say we were disappointed: our hopes weren’t too high, given the fact that our DL is about as long as the actual players’ roster. Sigh. There’s always next year (or the year after, once they finish tearing down and building up).
 
Tonight – it’s off to the concert. I don’t know what tomorrow’s journal will be, as we’ll be getting in pretty late, but come on back and find out. Maybe we’ll both be surprised!
 

Boy, does that sum up our lives in the big picture, and summer in the smaller one!
 
Here we are in August, the lush, eighth month of the year, when the corn is high, the sun is warm and the impending back-to-everything of September is still a glorious 31 days away. We wait all year for these sweet and succulent months, fantasizing about how we’ll spend them. For Rob and me, August is a month of adventure. And it began yesterday with my arrival at San Francisco International airport.
 

  
We’ve been to the City by the Bay but I’ve not flown in here before. My flight to San Francisco was smooth and uneventful – just how I like them. I sat next to a guy who didn’t do anything but grunt when I pointed out things like the wildfires below. Oh, well. To each his own.
 

 
We’ve checked into our hotel in Berkeley (outside Oakland and San Francisco) and are ready for our adventures to begin. Today, we’ll see the Blue Jays play the Oakland A’s, and then tomorrow it’s the ELO concert.
 
Funnily enough, I thought that this pleasure trip might be peppered with a little work: a voice audition we submitted last week had in its notes that a potential narrator for some US commercials would have to have one of two technical connections that we do not have and would therefore be rendered ineligible, OR be in San Francisco this week to go into the studio!
 
Well, we crossed our fingers and sent the audition, but over 100 other applicants had done the same. Ah well, it was fun to think that this trip might have an added, unexpected monetary component! Nothing like helping to pay for a trip while you’re on it!
 
My United flight had an interesting ending: I got to see another plane landing on a parallel runway. 
 

 
The weather in San Francisco and Oakland is pleasant and cool; I landed to about 17C and sunshine and the forecast is calling for more of the same during our time here. Last time we were here you could barely see the Golden Gate Bridge, arguably the most famous structure in the city. They say that the best time to see it is in September when the fog rolls out and we’ll have to take their word for it; for now, we’re happy just to see blue skies. Here’s our view as we headed into downtown San Francisco.
 

 
Traffic at 4pm was slow (just as we expected) but we enjoyed just sitting with the top down even if we were in congestion. We got to our Holiday Inn at around 5 pm and I wasn’t up for too much excitement, but that’s okay – we had nothing booked until tomorrow.
 

 
In the meantime, I was glad to get here in a calm state of mind and be greeted by my “chauffeur.” I hope you can read the little sign he made up so I could have a laugh when I stepped off the escalator!
 

 
Rob had a smooth trip down over three days, despite having to make a few detours from his planned route and ash on the car yesterday morning due to California fires. Inconvenience doesn’t matter much in the big scheme of things. Have a great day and I’ll be back with you here tomorrow with pics from what we hope will be a great day at the ballpark! Take care.