My first light (or the beginning of the end)

Is it really 21 November? I havn't posted in WAAAAY too long.

Today I'm going to tell you about my first lighthouse. A lot of people ask me how I got into lighthouses, putting them in for a long speech which they were just asking for. Now you get to read it at your leisure, instead of at the top of the lighthouse with people below tapping their toes.

In early August 1999, my entire family was down at the Cloister in Sea Island, GA for my grandparents' 45th Anniversary. This is a beautiful old hotel, which has been torn down (albiet carefully) by the owners who are mad that they went down to three Mobil stars and have to rebuild it. That's something that'll get me on a rant (no sense of HISTORY!), but I'll hold back for now.

After six hours crammed into my aunt's Suburban, driving to the coast from their Alpharetta home, we had four days to enjoy the resort. I continued to drive everyone CRAZY. I was a hyper little 9-year-old. But those are stories for another time, too.

Anyway, to the lighthouse. My mom decided to take the lumbering Suburban over to St. Simon's Island, where there was a lighthouse. We got it from the valet and headed over. I saw it, and was hooked.

We toured the museum, where I thought that it was so cool that they had a 2nd Order Fresnel lens. I mean, they have the second one EVER ordered! HOW COOL! We climbed the lighthouse, enjoyed the view, could have SWORN we saw my aunt and grandma shopping nearby, and headed to the best part of any museum...the gift shop.

I bought a huge puzzle of about 85 US lights. I thought these were all of them. Man, was I wrong! I slowly raised my known light count to its current 700ish level. But my goal was to see every one of these lights. I was hooked...and it was the beginning of the end.

Later that night, after dinner, we drove back to the light after dark and perched on the tailgate of the Suburban. We watched the four beams traveling around the area...a magical start to a magical experience.