Friday - After a quick breakfast of bagels and juice we drove a couple miles out to the lighthouse. (Phil & I had the picture taken for our very first Christmas card here before we were married. We used it as a "We're getting married/Save the date/Merry Christmas card all in one.) Last time I was here it was terribly windy. This time no wind, it just smelled like bird poop. And when you see the picture of the rock with all the birds, you'll understand why. It was awful.
"Do you smell what I smell???" Ughhh. . .we couldn't wait to get inside out of the stench!
One of the park rangers donned the typical clothing that would've been worn by the lighthouse keeper's wife back in the day.
The ascent to the top via the winding staircase. It was hard work getting up there. There are several planned stops along the way so we could catch our breath. Mom noted an experience of "legs like rubber" while I myself got a little dizzy.
But imagine being the keeper and having to haul up buckets of oil to keep the thing burning!
One at a time we could climb the last few steps to see the light. It's no longer burning with - get this - pig lard that was shipped in from OHIO and oil. It's automated with lightbulbs. It has its own special 3 seconds on, 3 seconds off, 3 seconds on, 14 seconds off pattern. All the lighthouses on the coast have a unique signal. That (back in the days before GPS) would have enabled ship captains to know where they were along the coast, just by counting the light patterns.
While at the top, we noticed a lady wearing a Cleveland Indians sweatshirt. My dad and her husband started chatting and we found out they were from Galion, Ohio, less than an hour away from where my parents live! They rode all the way out there on their fancy-schmancy motorcycle and pulled a little pop-up trailer. All of us were excited that Ohio helped keep the thing running by supplying all the pig lard!
Here we are on the way down. Not the most flattering of shots. More to come later.
1 comment:
We have climbed lighthouses on our coast before and "rubber legs" is right! Goodness... don't know how the light keepers did it. All I know is that they were in excellent shape!!
Too funny about Ohio pig lard. Made ya feel proud!!! lol
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