Those who have followed me for a while know that I cannot pass a lighthouse without stopping and capturing photos of them. A couple of years ago, we decided to drive from Portland, Oregon down the coast of Oregon and then continue down the coastline of California as far as Big Sur. One of the lighthouses that we stopped at was Pigeon Point Lighthouse, which is the tallest lighthouse on the West Coast. Built in 1871 on a rocky promontory, it is one of the most beautiful in California. The point was named for a clipper ship named the Carrier Pigeon, which had set sail from Boston and sailed around Cape Horn on its way to San Francisco. About 50 miles from its destination, it crashed near the point where the lighthouse now stands. Its loss as well as several other ships was the motivation to build the lighthouse.