Bonus Lights!

Greetings from the Outer Banks! Me and my family are spending a week here in Corolla, very close to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse. I decided I needed to make a blog entry, though right now, it's not OBX related...instead, it's about one of the biggest day-makers for a lighthouser, the Bonus Light.

A bonus light is the unexpected, stumbled-upon sentinel. They can either be found by luck or "hey, we're near [insert name] Light!". Here are a few examples.

Last August, my dad, brother, and I were returning from Saratoga, where we were helping a friend of his adding onto his house. I, in my foresight, had packed a binder of Hudson River and Lake Champlain lights in my bag. As we were sitting in the filling station, my dad said, "hey, are there any lighthouses in Hudson?"

I replied, "YES!!! Hudson-Athens!" I pulled my binder out. I think that the bang sound I heard was my dad hitting his head against the car window. We headed over to the light immediately...and it turned out to me my 125th of my life.

Another example was Great Beds, NJ. This light sits in the Raritan River. During my entire life, I have driven over the Parkway (?) bridge over the river hundreds of times going down to my grandparents' beach house in Spring Lake. One day, I happened to look out the window and saw a white tower. I got excited! Another light! Somehow, I had not seen this light in all these years. An email as soon as I got home to a local lighthouse friend confirmed Great Beds. A new addition to my life list!

These are a few examples of Bonus Lights. Next blog: The Outer Banks. I figure if I write it down here, I won't forget the topic when I go to write it. :D