Kristin Hillery Photography

Okay, really — these are the last of my San Francisco photos, taken with my Holga.

Not, not this Rock. This one…

Before the tour, I heard one guy joke, “Two years, three years — I would do time here! Island location, beautiful view and weather. What’s not to love?”

And then we went inside and looked around at the rows and rows of tiny cells that made my old dorm room at UT Austin look like a suite at the Four Seasons. We heard stories from former inmates, one of the saddest being that on New Year’s Eve, when the wind blew a certain way, they’d sit in the darkness and listen to people laughing and celebrating at a yacht club across the bay.

It’s so hard to feel bad for the prisoners who did time here, but man, what an awful way to live.

Maybe it’s because I’m a little head-over-heels for San Francisco right now, but I can’t think of a cooler place to live than on the famous block of Lombard Street that has eight (!) hairpin turns. Bonus: Not only are the houses adorable, but most of them have an incredible view of the bay.