Saket Vora

Super Bowl Sunday turned out to be not just a shining day for the Saints, but for the Bay Area too. After weeks of rainy days, the sun came out and warmed the bay up. I went up to the City for the day, first to visit Alcatraz with Nishu and a pair of her relatives visiting town. Her cousin was in town for a conference (the International Solid State Circuits Conference, the same one I attended back in 2007 in my first trip to San Francisco), and he brought his wife along too. If it was raining, we were going to check out the Legion of Honor museum, but it was so nice that day we decided to hit Alcatraz instead.

With our honed just-in-time logistical skills, Nishu and I picked them up and made it just as the ferry was about to set off. It was a warm day out on the water with the sun shining. I didn’t realize that Alcatraz has became a national park, or much about it’s history after prison operations ended. In the 1960s a group of Native Americans occupied Alcatraz claiming it to be old Indian land, and stayed out there for some time.

We had a quick bite to eat in the dock area then started heading up hill towards the prison yard. The whole island is smaller than what the movies make it seem to be. There are some support buildings scattered around, more often in pieces than not. But still, the views around the Bay were just stunning. What a stark contrast it must have been to be imprisoned on this island with so much vibrant life all around you.

There was a whole audio tour about the history of the prison and famous escape attempts, but we wanted to get outside. There is also a lot of natural life on the island — it’s a Bay rookery for water fowl, and flowers too.

And with that, it was back on the ferry towards the pier.

We got back to the somewhat shady parking lot we snagged near the pier, and I got them over Van Ness where they picked up a rental car. It was Super Bowl time! I realized I was near Nob Hill, where my friend Nevin has an apartment and gave him a ring. I even found a parking spot less than a block away. The party was in full swing 20 minutes before kickoff, and even Chrissy and Dave were there. Nevin and his roommates were terrific hosts with great food throughout the evening.

It was a fun game to watch, even though I was rooting for the Colts. Personally felt the commercials were a total bust this year. But the atmosphere was great and a lot of new people and faces to meet. Not a bad way to spend Superbowl Sunday.