Lighthouses, Oh, My!

My Russel and I had a mini-vacation last week, cramming lots of stuff into 3 days.  We left Tuesday and drove to Chipley in the Panhandle.  While Russel worked Wed. a.m., I drove myself around Marianna, taking pics of the historic homes.  We drove together to more homes that afternoon, but those pics will have to wait a bit.  We tried for the Florida Caverns, but they are closed on Wednesdays.  Our last day we managed to see three lighthouses and those are what I will post first as those pics are organized and named. 

First, we stopped briefly at Crooked River Lighthouse near Carrabelle on US 98 south of Tallahassee.  This lighthouse isn’t normally open, but it is nicely restored.  Members of the organization can climb it on the weekends.  Click on any pic for details, then hit back to return.

Next, we drove across a long causeway . . .

from the mainland to St. George Island.  You can see the light in this pic.  This lighthouse is famous for having its footings slowly eaten away by the sea until it was completely surrounded by water by 2005.  While a debate raged on whether to shore it up or move it, the light   collapsed into the Gulf on October 21, 2005.  Here’s 2/3 of a postcard showing it in the water and collapsed.

Looks totally hopeless, doesn’t it.  There are several websites with information on the light, but my favorite is here.  Reconstruction began in the Fall of 2007 and here she is now, safe, inland.

To prove that I climbed it, here’s me at the top in a pic taken by a nice man who came up with his family behind me.  My face is almost as red as my top!  It was hot up there!

Here’s Russel’s feet at the bottom, parked in a nice shady spot.  His bad knees won’t let him climb lighthouses.

Here’s a pic facing the Gulf from the top.  My batteries died in my camera, but my cell phone did okay.

We went from St. George Island to Apalachicola to have lunch at the Seafood Grill, highly recommended by Misty and Bob who stopped there on their way home in Feb.  Russel and I split a piece of orange cake after we porked out on shrimp.

Apalachicola also had a restored mansion, the Raney House, but the museum had closed by the time we finished lunch.  Next time.

After Apalachicola, we turned east for home, making one more stop at the St. Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge, about 20 miles south of Newport off US 98.  We were looking for alligators, but only saw some birds too far away for the phone to get good pics.  The last pics we took were of the St. Mark’s Lighthouse.

She was all boarded up, but still pretty impressive.  Lots more pics to come.  Roses are next.

Thanks for stopping by. Comments always welcome.

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