St. Augustine...

Only three days after coming home from NAMM, I was on my way east, off to Florida. I get to see my brother only so often, so I jumped at the chance. We've pretty much decided that me making a trip east will be an annual thing, primarily because of the Rolex 24 held at Daytona International Speedway at the end of January. I was here last year, and now again this year, and it's just cool.

I landed in Jacksonville around 10:15am, and made my way to the Alamo counter. For the second time in a week, I'd be renting a rather bitchin' ride for the weekend:



2011 Dodge Challenger. Again...

Before making our way down to Daytona, though, we took a day to scoot around St. Augustine. Along with running some errands (mainly picking up provisions for the Daytona trip), Greg took me to some of the more picturesque areas of St. Augustine.

I've been here before, of course, and have spent some time walking the ancient roads of America's oldest city. I dig old cities and, if they actually look old, all the better. St. Augustine has that in spades.

As I've mentioned before, one of the things I like to do is visit places that have been investigated by the Ghost Adventures Crew (you do watch the Travel Channel, don't you?). While I know they've investigated the Castillo de San Marcos, I don't know if they've ever investigated the St. Augustine Lighthouse which is, reportedly, haunted.

The St. Augustine Lighthouse - built in 1874...

So, what the Hell? Off we went.

Greg seemed content to shoot the lighthouse from outside the fence. I, on the other hand, wouldn't have that. The lighthouse is open to visitors, and it was only a mere 219 steps to the top. I treated Greg to admission (his St. John's County residence means he gets in for a year), and we went out onto the grounds of the lighthouse and the Keeper's house.

The grounds are pretty cool and, from a photographer's perspective, offer plenty of different angles to shoot the lighthouse from. They also offer a good view of the Keeper's house:

Two views of the St. Augustine Lighthouse...

  

The Lighthouse Keeper's House...

Now, the last thing I was going to allow to happen was that we show up, pay admission, and not climb to the top of the lighthouse. It was 219 steps, but it was well worth the effort. Back in the early days of the light, the Keeper would have to haul five pounds worth of hot oil up those 219 stairs just to keep the lamp lit. All we had to do was climb the stairs:



Some of the 219 steps inside the St. Augustine Lighthouse...

Once conquering those stairs, though, we were treated to some unparalleled views of St. Augustine:

 

The view to the southeast...

The view to the northeast...

The top of the lighthouse...

 

The lighthouse rises 165 feet. Now, that may not sound like a lot but, from the top, things on the ground look surprisingly small. That being the case, they really don't want anyone throwing anything off the lighthouse:

 

I think a bullet might actually feel somewhat different, but I get their point...

 

My brother Greg at the top of the St. Augustine Lighthouse. He threw nothing to the ground...

 

Having taken about as many pictures as we could from the top of the tower, we decided to head down and do some things to prepare for the trip to Daytona. I've got news for you, 219 steps going down takes almost as long as 219 steps going up. We made it, though, and started gearing up for the next day...