Lighthouses

On October 16-17, JACK had a reprise: the NJ Lighthouse Challenge.

People might ask, what is so alluring about sitting in a car with people for two days straight driving all over the southern New Jersey coastline? Well, clearly you don't know JACK, or love New Jersey nearly as much as we do (which is a lot a lot a lot). The weather was beautiful and it was a really fun and different way to spend time with some really amazing people. We started on the Delaware River overlooking Philadelphia and ended on the Sandy Hook Bay overlooking Manhattan. We were kind of celebrities for our way cool T-shirts (thanks Jamie for the design!). It was a lot of fun and we already have an idea for next year's T-shirt... but here's a little info on each of the NJ lighthouses and affiliated stops, in case you were curious. On day one:

1. Tinicum Light, Paulsboro: We almost missed this, located amidst little league and pop warner fields, slightly inland from the Delaware River. We climbed this one, and found a nice view of Philadelphia and, much further away, the Delaware Memorial Bridge. The top had this little trap door that you had to throw your entire weight against to get out on the platform. Good start to the day!

2. Finns Point Light, Pennsville: A cute and quiet stop-- the lighthouse itself was not open so there was not much fuss going on... until JACK showed up on the scene. Come on, what would you have done? Four of us, four tables, we clearly needed a picture with them... and I even stopped and gently placed myself on the table instead of diving on with my full weight, in hopes that something like this wouldn't happen.

3. East Point Light, Heislerville: This lighthouse was at the end of a lengthy detour, right on the Delaware Bay. The house itself was really beautiful on the outside, though the inside appeared to be a bit dilapidated. However, it recently received a preservation grant and will be seeing some major interior renovations imminently. Also in the area: one of the state prisons. I guess they can't get into too much trouble down in the Pine Barrens.

4. Cape May County Museum, Cape May Court House: Nothing much to see here except for a first order Fresnel lens that used to shine in the Cape May Lighthouse. This is the biggest kind of Fresnel lens, and depending on how many panels around they are, is how many seconds are between the light hitting a given focal point and thus sending a flash out to a relatively stationery ship (360 degrees divided by how many panels).

5. Tatham Life Saving Station, Stone Harbor: This place was really cool and really informative. Before the US Coast Guard, the east coast had a Life Saving Station every five miles. These had a pretty impressive system to save a ship in distress. Their motto: "You have to go out, you don't have to come back." Intense.

6. Hereford Inlet Light, North Wildwood: Possibly the prettiest little light we saw. It was a beautiful old house with really gorgeous gardens on all sides and a walkway along the ocean.

7. Cape May Light, Cape May Point: After watching the sun set at Sunset Beach (how appropriate, in more ways than one), we climbed this lighthouse, one of the tallest in the state at 199 steps. It gave us a beautiful view of the colors on the horizon, where the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean meet. We were disappointed that it was the most expensive fee to climb, rather than a voluntary donation, because this is probably one of the houses that gets more attention in the state, as it's in a seasonally touristy area. But, beautiful view and well kept grounds.

We stayed at a hotel on the beach in Wildwood Crest. Very peaceful this time of year. Day two included:

8. Absecon Light, Atlantic City: It took us quite a while to get here because traffic was competing with a marathon that morning, but we made it. For those keeping score at home, this is where my post- Lighthouse- Challenge- Facebook profile photo came from. This was one of our more impressive timer group shots, as the anchor was way across the yard from the house, though still not as impressive as the moment caught on camera in Heislerville the day before...

9. Tucker's Beach Light Replica, Tuckerton: Kind of the lamest one, not going to lie. The real one fell in the water during a nor'easter in 1927. The replica was just a house in the Tuckerton Seaport with an area on top that was a similar shape to a light encasement. It was the easiest to climb though-- actual stairs with real railings, not the narrow spiral stairs that I so adore but definitely complicate the ascent.

10. Barnegat Light, Barnegat Light: This is sort of my home lighthouse, even though it's on the next barrier island south-- by the way the bird flies, it's the closest, but you can also see it from Island Beach State Park, which is near my homeland. Jamie, Amanda and I ended up climbing it for these very reasons, spotting the Seaside bridges as well as Katie sitting on a bench 218 steps below us.

11. Barnegat Light Museum, Barnegat Light: Some interesting things in this small museum. Another Fresnel lens, some nice gardens.

12. Sea Girt Light, Sea Girt: We ate our lunch next to the ocean here. This was really nice but really busy when we were there, so we didn't stay for long.

13. Sandy Hook Light, Fort Hancock: We were planning on finishing here, but some construction and weird traffic patterns and an earlier misunderstanding in the directions lead us here second to last. What a lovely park. We were looking forward to climbing and seeing a sweet view of Manhattan, but we heard that Twin Lights was closing early and didn't want to not finish the challenge after our incredible efforts thus far. Sweet park, we decided this National Recreation Area would be well worth its own visit, between the lighthouse itself and the historic fort surrounding it (and also the beach, we love the beach).

14. Navesink Twin Lights, Highlands: WE FINISHED THE CHALLENGE! This beautiful lighthouse (do you call it lighthouses if it's one building?) was near impossible to get to, but really nice once we made it up the hill and found it. They also had a Fresnel lens on display, as well as some Life Saving Station gear. We could still see Manhattan and the towers on this were way shorter than Sandy Hook Lighthouse. To celebrate, we had a ridiculous timed photo shoot.



And, if all else fails, this is how you know we spent two days in south Jersey: despite spending most of the drives on very rural, undeveloped stretches of highway, we saw 17 Wawas (21 if you count the ones in Toms River heading back to Amanda's house). All in all, a most excellent adventure.