We left Rochester for Tampa on Friday, January 4 to travel around Florida, Georgia and South Carolina visiting the lighthouses.
I have not been very good on working on my log, but I'll start here with the first few days.
Derith met us at the Tampa Airport and told us that she had an Anniversary present for us and that we had to stop by to get it before we went to her house. To our amazement, we followed her to a small airport where she had chartered a small plane to take the three of us up to see Anclote Key and Egmont Key from the air. At first I wasn't too sure about it as I really don't like to fly, but I wasn't going to be left on the ground. The one bad thing is you'll have to wait to see Mike's pictures because there was no way I was going near the window of the plane. But it was spectacular!! Until you have experienced this, there really are no words to explain!
After our unexpected gift, it was on to Derith's house where we met her husband, Jerry; her mom - Ma; her aunt - Lo; and her grandtwins - Kathryn & Kaitlin. What a wonderful time we had with Derith's family. From the time we arrived, we became a part of that family and her house became home. And boy, did they feed us!
Saturday morning we were up early for breakfast which included fresh picked grapefruit from their yard and it was on our way to Cape Canaveral where we had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Sonny Hewitt & Major Cindy East who were our tour guides. Mike and I were lucky enough to ride with them on base, so we got the "grand" tour. We visited the Complex 14 where John Glenn's flight on February 20, 1962 was launched.
Then it was on to the Lighthouse, where Sonny explained the history with Ma and Lo listening.
This is actually the second lighthouse on Cape Canaveral and is in it's second location.
Remember who is taking the pictures here, most of the lights seem to be tilted - they aren't actually, it's just that I'm not a very good photographer….but it gives you the idea!
This lighthouse is unique in that at each level there are rooms inside the light. Some had bedrooms and another had the kitchen. It is thought that before the keepers quarters were built the keepers actually lived in the light.
Back at Derith's house, it was time to pick fresh citrus for dinner. Mike getting lessons from a pro.
And Derith's beautiful grandtwins helping out.
We had a great evening and sadly said our good-byes!
The next morning, we quietly left the house at 5:00 a.m. to be at Boca Grande for the sunrise.
We also saw the Boca Grande Rear Range light. That was about the last time we saw blue sky for the rest of the day. At Sanibel it was a light mist. The tower is in excellent condition, but the keepers quarters need a fresh paint job.
After Sanibel, it was back in the car and across the state to Miami to see Cape Florida. We were undecided on what to do because the rain (sometimes very heavy) seemed to keep following us. We were also debating on going to the Key's to try and see some of the lights by airplane (Derith has shown us a special way to lighthouse!). But we decided we were going to Cape Florida and not doing the Keys….that would be another trip (possibly next year!)
Just as we arrived at Cape Florida, it decided to start raining again, but after waiting a few minutes we made our way out to the light. It has been beautifully restored. It would have been nice seeing it before as well as after the restoration.
We had missed the last tour for the day and the locked gate kept us from getting closer to the light than from the beach. Then it was back in the car to find a hotel closer to Hillsboro so we could be there the next morning.
[This message has been edited by Kaiz (edited 01-13-2002).]
