Last fall my husband and I went on a five day cruise. It was his second and my first. Neither one of us were blown away by the cruise. The ocean view was spectacular day and night, and the size of the ship was impressive.
The food was a
little better than okay, and given the amount of people served on a
daily basis I suppose that's the best one could hope for. If we ever
take another cruise we'll try a different line to see. We came to the conclusion that for this particular cruise line, if you like to sunbath most of the day and party all night you're a cruiser. Neither one of us own a bathing suit and we don't drink so ...
I did make a new friend on one of the islands we stopped at.
Aside from spending quality time with my husband, the best part of our trip was the day we returned to Jacksonville. Not because the cruise was over, but because we had time to take a road trip before catching our flight home.
We rented a car and drove south to St. Augustine. The trip was (very selfishly) solely for me. It was another one of those (numerous) occasions that compelled me to drag him along on a quick ghost-seeking trip. By the end though my husband was planning to go back with St. Augustine as our actual destination.
Some people plan vacations around sight-seeing opportunities such as national parks, historic monuments or museums. Others plan destination vacations such as the ocean, a Disney theme park,or mountain climbing. I plan mine around places or areas known for being haunted. (Are you feeling a little sorry for my husband yet?)
I discovered the St. Augustine Lighthouse watching an episode of Ghost Hunters. It was one of the creepiest episodes I'd seen so far. The black figure that peered down over the upper railing and darted around the circular staircase was fascinating. I must admit that I am not 100% convinced ghosts exist, in spite of experiences I've had and the first-hand accounts I've been privy too. What I see on television is not what I consider evidence because, well, it's on television. Still, that does not stop me from trying to find out for myself if there's more out there than we know.
The bonus was discovering that the city of St. Augustine was a gem in its own right. According to Wikipedia, it was founded in 1565 by Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, a Spanish explorer, and is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United States. The city is charming and full of wonderful structures and neat stores, such as Flagler College, Fort Matanzas, the Bridge of Lions, Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum, the Lightner Museum, and Whetstone Chocolates. We squeezed in a lot in the short time we were there and some day I'll be blogging in more detail about this wonderful city.
But the neatest thing about St. Augustine is that it is considered one of the most haunted cities in the United States. That alone is worth a return trip!
Back to the Lighthouse. You can see its black and white-striped tower reaching into the sky over the city from many vantage points.
I was excited to check it out, even though it was during the day. The consensus is that ghosts only come out and play at night, so I had no expectations that anything would occur. When we entered the gift shop/entrance way, the first thing we saw was a model of the Cutty Sark.
The Cutty Sark is a clipper ship built in 1869, and was known for being one of the fastest clipper ships on the seas in her time. She sailed until 1954 when she was put on display in Greenwich. On one of my visits to the U.K. I took a trip to Greenwich to see the Prime Meridian. And yes, I was one of those tourists who took a picture of her feet straddling the hemispheres. Along the way I passed the Cutty Sark, and made a point to visit her during my stay. The ship was beautiful, inside and out, and I went back the next trip to see her again. I am glad that I did. In 2007 the ship suffered extensive damage from a fire and only reopened to the public this past April 25. (All of my pictures are paper, some day they'll all be scanned for posterity.)
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| Courtesy of Wikipedia |
Time for a tangent!
On one of my trips to Greenwich I took a tour. The guides who give tours in London and the surrounding areas are absolutely fabulous, full of knowledge and entertaining. This particular tour took us by the National Maritime Museum and the Queen's House. The buildings are joined by a long walkway lined with pillars. That day was the opening of an exhibit at the Museum, the particulars of which escape me. Our guide paused on the great lawn next to the buildings so we could take pictures. I wandered over to the walkway, and decided that it would be cool to take an optical illusion picture of the pillars. The only problem was, two older gentlemen were standing on the walkway blocking my shot. I walked up to them and very politely asked them if they would mind stepping aside for a minute while I took my picture. They smiled and stepped aside.
I kept an eye on my tour group while I was setting up my shot, and I noticed the tour guide waving frantically to me as I approached the men. I assumed they were waiting for me to move along. I finished, waved another thanks to the men, and rejoined my group. The tour guide met me on my way back, breathlessly asking me what I'd said to the two men. She seemed very concerned. I told her, and she stared at me for a moment, then giggled. Turns out that one of the men was Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II.
Back to St. Augustine Lighthouse.
We followed a pathway through a small patch of woods and there she was. Beautiful!
Across the small lawn stood the Keeper's House.
I was very excited to make the trek up the stairs to the top of the Lighthouse. My husband, not so much. Neither of us like heights but I was not going to let that stop me.
The view from the upper windows is spectacular.
So is the view looking down, if only because I could not believe I managed to climb so high. (Yes, those are my toes.)
When we got to the top my husband opted to stay inside. I found some bravery somewhere and stepped outside. It was very, very windy. I almost stepped back inside but when an elderly man stepped out and strode to the railing I felt better that I wouldn't die alone if I got blown over the side and stayed. I must admit though that while I did manage to make the circumference of the top, I did most of it hugging the wall. Hey, it was really windy! I managed to get some good shots without dying.
One of the things on my to-do list when we return to St. Augustine is the Dark of the Moon tour being offered by the Lighthouse staff. Regardless of whether or not you believe in ghosts the publicity from the Ghost Hunters show seems to have garnered more attention for the Lighthouse. As a non-profit, it depends a lot on donations, so go visit!
Paranormal activity has been reported at the Lighthouse for years and years. Some people believe that the two young daughters of Hezekiah Pittee (or Pity), Eliza and Mary, who drowned in a tragic accident in 1873 while the Lighthouse was being built, still play there. Some believe the ghosts could be former lighthouse keepers, or pirates rumored to have been buried on the grounds.
Regardless, there are too many stories to discount the possibility that there may be ghosts inhabiting the Lighthouse. As I said earlier, I was not expecting anything to show up on my pictures. As it so happens, I was pleasantly surprised. (Below is one of many, and I did check before and after shots to confirm.)
Next time will be even more fun!
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