I wanted to visit my grandson in VT and my great grandson in CT. I figured that I would take the chance to go and see some lighthouses on the way up.

We drove up to Lewes to take the Cape May Ferry. I went up the elevator and walked onto the ferry which was a mistake because I should have used my scooter. We saw two lighthouses from the ferry Delaware Breakwater Light and the Harbor of Refuge Light but I forgot my telephoto lens (it was in the car) so my photos aren't that good.







I had originally made a reservation at the Virginia Hotel and asked for a first floor room. But they didn't have a first floor room so they switched me to Congress Hall. We went for dinner at their restaurant The Blue Pig. I ordered Brunswick Stew, but what I got was an ordinary beef stew - attractively presented, but not Brunswick Stew.

The AAA book said the hours of the Cape May lighthouse were 'variable'. I asked when we checked in, but the desk person at the hotel did not know. So I looked it up on the internet after dinner. It turned out there was a moonlight climb that night, and the lighthouse opened at 10 the next morning.

Since I now use a scooter to get around there is no way I'm doing a moonlight climb or a climb at any other time of day.

I found Cape May very expensive. So it was a relief to find that the lighthouse was in a Cape May park which was free.



The fee would be for climbing the lighthouse. The park had a museum. The lady in the Museum for the State Park told us to ask at the oil house



for the video which showed climbing the lighthouse - So we did that - it was free and was much easier than doing it ourselves, plus they took us past where visitors can go.



I looked into the lighthouse door from the scooter as I passed it.



I also took the scooter up to look at the beach (no swimming allowed),



but I did not go over to where the birders were looking at the marsh.

Nice pictures even without the telephoto lens. Looks like you had good weather. Never been to see any New Jersey lights. One of these days though.

Thanks for sharing, Rosalie.

It was OK but I HAD one with me. If I was in better shape, I would have just gone down to the car to get it, but it was as much as I could do to walk on the ferry ad go up to the bow. I had to stop twice and sit down and get my breath as it was (I have COPD and it is not from smoking as I don't smoke and none of my family smokes)

Then we visited Hereford Inlet lighthouse. This meant getting on the Garden State Parkway, which is a toll road and you have to pay cash and sometimes you have to pay coin cash - sometimes even quarters. We are running out of quarters.



We overshot the lighthouse - it looks like the State Police are quartered in a keepers house and we almost turned in there.



We had to turn around and go back. Bob didn't get out the scooter which was a mistake. In order to get photos that weren't right into the sun,




I had to go around to the other side of the lighthouse,



and I just couldn't do it. This is as far as I got. I sat down in an arbor.



I ended up giving my camera to Bob. It's a very pretty
Victorian cottage type lighthouse





Then we headed for Atlantic City. The GPS told us to turn down a street which was closed, but we got there eventually.



We got to Abescon Lighthouse and I was looking to see what the paint colors were when Daddy took his photo. You guys helped me to ID it because it didn't look the same in 1959 as it does now.



I talked to a Park Ranger, and he told me all the colors that the lighthouse had been. He said originally it was red brick but that it got lost in the setting sun so they painted it red and white but that had the same problem. I don't think that is a real story though because there are several red lighthouses.

Anyway, apparently when it was decommissioned and was standing vacant, the city painted it in the city colors (blue and yellow). It is now black and white.



I asked the ranger if he would like to have copies of the photo and he said yes. So I sent them to him, and he said he was going to show the photos to his manager, and also to the city planner to show what the city looked like in 1959

Both Hereford Inlet and Abescon had gardens.



And I could get the scooter into the keeper's house



Left here about 2:15 and got to Barnegat State Park when we realized that the lighthouse in this case was NOT at the state park. Some back-tracking was required.



Bob originally thought I couldn't use the scooter because the paths were sand, but it turned out to be paved.



This turned out to be another lighthouse built by General George Meade.



I could actually go all the way out to the inlet.



We got to see some people coming in the inlet against the tide which was running pretty fast.





Bob watching the boats coming in the inlet

We skipped Sea Girt lighthouse and decided just to go to the hotel. One of the Garden State toll places where they took actual money (as opposed to coins and Bob gave her a five and asked for quarters as change. She gave us two $1.00 coins and the rest in quarters. The people behind us were impatient. But this gave us enough change for the rest of the trip.

We got to the hotel and the GPS said it was on the left, and it was on the right. But we were three lanes of traffic away from getting to it. I think it took us half a hour to get back to the hotel. It's very confusing around here.

I put all the rest of the GPS locations into the
GPS and using Google maps tried to figure out which way would be the best to go. I decided to pick up the rest of the places we didn't visit yesterday and try to avoid the Garden State Parkway.

So we got breakfast and set off about 9:30.

I went first to the town where my cousins lived and then visited their parent's graves.

Then we set off to see Sandy Point lighthouse. We got there about 11:30. First we went through the Fort Hancock Historic District



and there were some kids in dark blue uniforms near the NOAA Fisheries Center.





The lighthouse visitor's center is at the lighthouse now,




and Bob went in and used the bathroom, but all the entrances had steps so I didn't get out of the car.



We were finished with planned lighthouse visits. But we saw twin towers on the bluff and Bob said it looked like two lighthouses, but I did not think it could be. It DID look like lighthouses though, so I took photos. I saw them on the town Welcome sign so I looked them up in the AAA book and sure enough, they are the Navesink Lighthouses.