My job

I’ve read the lighthouse material, listened to three docents give their spiel and given three tours myself.  I am now qualified to be on my own.  So you may wonder:  “What do I do”?  I drive to the parking lot wearing my muck shoes or muck boots and I grab my daypack full of extra clothes and I start walking up the hill.  I’ve  already learned that the weather changes frequently here.  Rain, then sun, rain again, wind…  It just keeps changing.  So I try to be prepared for anything.

Lighthouse view from my walk

It is a gorgeous view as I walk.  I pass the light keeper house and then I’m walking on the original trail that the lighthouse keepers used.  The light keeper second shift walked the trail at midnight lit only by their lantern.  A cold, wet, windy, dark walk in the winter.  In places there are remnants of an old hand railing they used to stay on the path.

Once at the lighthouse we unlock the first oil house, check for messages on the answering machine, log in, leave behind anything we want locked and grab the key to the lighthouse.  We unlock the lighthouse and then hurry to enter the security code so it doesn’t alarm.  My fingers are crossed that I don’t set off the alarm while I’m here.  We set out pictures, brochures, and the donation box.   And then people come.  I’m amazed at how popular visiting the coast is this time of year.  Maybe it will slow down after the holidays.  Yesterday about 120 came for tours within 4 hours.  Tours last about 10 to 15 minutes.  When we are done, we put everything away, vacuum, then set the alarm on the way out and lock the lighthouse. Back to the oil house, we put everything away, log out, and leave.  Then it is a walk down the hill with the gorgeous view of birds and waves crashing.