Joy. Lighthouse keeper?

Magnet #1140 - Cape May Lighthouse

The sisters, BIL and I did a fun sidetrip out to Cape May, NJ, a couple of years ago. Saw the town, saw the houses, saw the lighthouse out at Cape May Point State Park.

It's a cool lighthouse, built just before the Civil War, but has been automated since the 1940s. Like most lighthouses struggling to survive, they charge a small fee to head up to the top of the lighthouse to see all the views of the Jersey coast. We didn't get to go up to the lookout, but apparently, I missed climbing 217 steps. Darn.

The fact that it's automated kind of makes me sad, because the hermit part of me bets I'd be an awesome lighthouse keeper. C'mon, a remote rocky point along the shore, with a tiny little house, with a great big light that I'd have to monitor at night. (I'm assuming. At least that's what the folks in Pete's Dragon had to do.)

And I'd never really have to go to the actual beach. Just stash me in the little house with a little tv, and maybe an elevator to get to the top, and I'd be good to go. Joy. Lighthouse keeper. It could work!

Though, no offense to Cape May, but I couldn't be there, because apparently, it's one of the best places to go birding during the fall migration. Birding. Um. NO.

Of course, there aren't any birds in my Cape May pictures...save for those three weirdos below.

Down the Jersey Shore

Magnet #163 - Cape May, NJ

Soooo, yesterday, if you'd said that I'd spend my sister's big birthday weekend down the Jersey Shore, I'd probably have laughed at you. Mostly, because ya'll know how I detest beaches. But also because for some reason beyond me, I didn't associate either Atlantic City or Cape May, NJ, part of the Jersey Shore.

Clearly, both are next to the water, but I just didn't think about it.

We spent much of today in Cape May - the only town in all of America designated as a historic landmark - looking at the supercute Victorians, visiting the lighthouse, running around the little shops, and yes, walking on the beach and even(!) dipping a toe or two or ten in the freezing cold Atlantic.

The best surprise of yesterday was a giant elephant (yep, I'll eventually get to that in a later magnetpost), but the coolest surprise of today was seeing a World War II bunker on the beach. I've been to Normandy, and seen the WWII bunkers there, so, seeing a bunker on a beach shouldn't have been so jarring. But, I honestly hadn't a clue that we had our own bunkers on U.S. soil. How cool is that. A little scary, but still cool.

Also a little scary? How much food one can consume in a weekend. Between the Philly cheesesteak taste tests between Pat's and Geno's in Philly (jury's still out), the Borgata buffet (pretty damn good, though the Bellagio's better), and seafood (seeing as how it was the beach) along the shore, I'm surprised I didn't just roll down the railroad tracks back up to NYC. Yikes.