Climbing the Stairway to Heaven...

Alex has talked to me for ages about going to the St Augustine Light House and I have avoided it as long as possible because as I have mentioned before... I am afraid of heights. I tried every trick possible to get out of going but nothing worked and it was off to a stairway to heaven adventure.

As always click each photo for a better view

We arrive at the site and the sign at the entrance gave an indication that the place is loaded with light house history, some of it dating back to 1586.

After paying for admission and a short walk down a path, we instantly arrive at the lighthouse in all it's glory. Looking at it, my eyes just kept traveling up, and up, and up.... If you look closely at the top there is a small ring that is the observation post which is where we are going to climb.

The tour guide told us the light house keepers were generally a strong lot because every two hours they had to climb 219 steps to the top of the tower carrying fuel in a 30 pound bucket to adjust the light. I thought about it and realized all I was carrying was a very light camera and the view would be more than worth it... So I took a deep breath and decided to give it a try...

I climbed a few steps and realized I didn't feel bad at all and decided to look up. There was this magnificent sight that reminded me of a sea shell or for the mathematically inclined a fractal. A beautiful sight indeed! I kept going.

Right about this level I could see the coast line and wondered despite the drudgery of the work, during the day the keepers must have enjoyed living in one of the most beautiful places on earth. The structure in view from the window is the keepers house which is large and roomy. It had to be because keeping the light house was a family affair. Everyone in the family was called into service to perform some function to keep the light house going.

Talk about a room with a view. You can barely see the top of the keeper's house now but there was the inlet, highlighting a crisp sunny day... also butterflies in the stomach, red alert!

And here is my reward. It is a wonderful sight with a clear view for miles of the entire inlet. I will admit that my heart was pounding and I stayed well back from the railing but it was more than worth it.

And to add to the excitement of the trip was a display of the various types of lens used at the light house. The Fresnel lens was the preferred model because it's separate section design made them lighter and also allowed the light to be seen for far greater distances.

You can see from the photos they were technological marvels for their time that are still used today in traffic lights and even the headlights of your car. And, they look like huge diamonds!

Going down was a lot easier than going up and as we did I congratulated myself on making it to the top.



And, as we drove away and could see the light house in the distance I realized how much I enjoyed taking the stair way to heaven.