After spending every day at home for months, I wanted to get out and do something new.

I wanted to be a tourist where I live in South Florida.

So, we grabbed our face masks and headed to Jupiter, Florida – just a 45-minute drive from our home in Wellington.

The Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse

Our first stop was the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse.

I got the brilliant idea that we could all climb to the top… all 105 steps.

What I didn’t take into account, was that my husband Colin and I would need to take turns with each child because the youngest, Dylan at 9-months, can’t climb stairs… and that my son Landon and I are afraid of heights.

So, after Landon got 3/4 of the way up the lighthouse stairs with his dad, he was too tired to go on… and too scared to walk down the steps.

As you can imagine, this caused quite the holdup for people trying to go down and wanting to go up.

They were stuck at the last landing by the window because Landon wasn’t budging.

Luckily, there is an employee named Amanda at the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum who is a child-whisperer who raced to the lighthouse in a golf cart, flew up 70 steps of stairs, and calmly talked to and walked Landon down the seven stories – her in front of Landon with Colin behind him.

When they reached the bottom, she asked all the kind people waiting to give Landon a round of applause for climbing 70 steps.

Then, it was Julianna and my turn. After five steps I looked at Julianna and asked her, “Do you think you’ll be able to walk down lots of steps like these?”

It was a no… and I was relieved.

The stairs that take you to the top of the lighthouse are made up of grating, so they’re not solid, and they are tightly spiraled all the way up.

You can see all the way up and all the way down.

If you’re afraid of heights, it’s not something you get really excited about.

So, Landon and Colin were the only ones to go to the top. Almost.

Amanda went above and beyond to ensure Landon faced his fear, had fun, and she even gifted him with a shark tooth necklace.

She was so patient with him while he faced his fear and it made our day.

The Dune Dog Cafe

While Julianna, Dylan, and I were waiting for Landon’s rescue, I asked around about nearby restaurants with outdoor seating.

(There’s no indoor eating for us with the Coronavirus running rampant in South Florida.)

The Dune Dog Cafe got a couple of recommendations, so we went there.

They did a great job of ensuring all guests were socially distanced.

A couple of hotdogs, a hamburger, craft beer, root beer float, and Chicken Giggles later, we headed home.

A Day in Jupiter

Jupiter is a cute town.

We’re going to come back… when it’s not in the 90s in August and with no plans to climb to the top of a lighthouse (for now.)

You know when you pull into the driveway and this is the sight behind you, it was a good day.