text: I'm a member of a travel group that does daytrips in Florida. A couple of months ago, there was a trip listed for St. Augustine. For those readers not familiar with the US, St. Augustine is the oldest city in the US and is in the Northeastern part of Florida. We did a driving tour of St. Augustine, followed by a tour of the Ximenez Fatio House Museum. The trip also included climbing the Lighthouse which was the last event. I was looking forward to the challenge of climbing the lighthouse. I'm a middle aged plus sized woman who had a weak left knee. I had two months to prepare for the climbing the lighthouse. I did this by walking up and down the stairs at work during my two breaks. I started out slowly. My weak left knee became stronger as did my bones. Found out that I had a Vitamin D deficiency which caused the weakness in my bones. Once I started taking Vitamin D, my bones felt stronger. I never would have guessed that I had this deficiency. Yesterday, the day finally came. December 1st. It was about a half hour before the sunset and I wanted to get up there. There was 8 landings. I would rest every 2 landings until I finally reached the top. The sun had almost set when I got up there. Beautiful view of the lights of Christmas in St. Augustine in the city and the Matanzas River. Now I had to go back down. I made the mistake of looking down and almost went into the panic. I stopped myself, took a deep breath, said a short prayer to myself and then went down. Someone in the group gave me moral support and encouragement when I went down the steps. She was right behind me, encouraging me. This I really needed. By the time I was on the 3rd landing, I was on a roll. The next 3 flights of stairs were easy. When I finished, people cheered me on which really made my day. I did it. Several person in the group congratulated me. So did a couple of people at work who I sent a text to declaring that I had reached my goal of climbing the lighthouse. I was proud of myself. The view was beautiful. I went and sat on a nearby bench for ten minutes and drank a entire bottle of water. A line had formed outside to the lighthouse. I was glad that I went up when I did. A couple of years earlier, I went to the Lighthouse and couldn't go up the stairs. My knee was weak and my legs felt like I would break a bone if I attempted to go up the stairs. I vowed that I would go up the stairs. Three years later, the opportunity presented itself. I woke up this morning with no pain. This I'm most grateful for. Our group drove around St. Augustine to see the lights. Very beautiful. I've been to St. Augustine several times during Christmas. This year it was like they went all out. This morning I sent a e-mail to the group thanking them for their moral and emotional support. This was one of the best trips I've even taken on this group.