Alcatraz and Sophie's Choice

We heading out to San Francisco for a few days during Spring Break.  When we got the airplane tickets, we also bought baseball tickets and tickets to the San Francisco Ballet.

The kids want to see Alcatraz, but we didn't buy tickets.  We figured we'd get them while we were there, maybe after we checked the weather forecast and could see which day had the highest chance of sunshine.  (This step is likely unnecessary, as California is suffering from a drought.)

One of Jack's colleagues lived in SF a few years ago, and recommended getting Alcatraz tickets before we go.  Twenty plus years ago when I was in SF, I walked up and bought tickets, with a wide choice of dates and times.  I figured we were going midweek in the middle of spring, and tourism would not be at its peak. This is not July 4th weekend or some other major travel holiday.

I was wrong.  I went online today and all of the tickets for Alcatraz for this week were sold out.  I found open tickets, but not four.  At one point, I found two groups of two tickets at different times.  When I couldn't find four tickets for the same date and time, I thought about splitting the trip.  I could take one kid one day; Jack could take the other at the other time.  By time I figured that out, there were only two tickets left.  My heart sank.

The kids really wanted to see Alcatraz.  I thought it was cool when I saw it 20+ years ago, and if nothing else, the boat ride is nice.  Alcatraz is owned by the National Parks Service, so it is a reasonably educational and historical experience.  Plus, there is an art exhibit by Ai Weiwei, a Chinese artist who believes in human rights, which we would also miss.  (And he uses Lego as one of his mediums!)

I vexed, and left the two tickets in my online shopping cart, and walked the dog.  Should I get the two tickets, and do a Sophie's choice of which child could go?  Should I violate the Alcatraz rules and let my kids go alone, even though kids under 18 need to be accompanied by an adult?  Could Claire Adele pass for 18?  One of my neighbors walking her dog in the park thought that was a possibility.

I went home and told the kids about the tickets.  Both kids wanted to go, and thought we should get the two tickets, and figure it out later.  The Boy said I could go with Claire Adele, and he would go bowling with Jack.

I went online, and thought I'd try one more time to get four tickets together.  I hit the "Continue Shopping" button before I went to the checkout.

Bingo!  Four tickets at the same time on the same day.  Moral of the story:  It pays to keep hitting the refresh button.