California lighthouses: Inns and history with a flare

PESCADERO, Calif. Fanned out along the rain-battered shoreline nearPigeon Point Youth Hostel, a fifth-grade class from San Jose standswatch.

Clutching flashlights and foul-weather gear against theonslaught of a storm, the students are here as part of a "livinghistory" lesson about the inner workings of a 19th centurylighthouse. But unlike the "wickies" (lighthouse keepers) who onceclimbed Pigeon Point's 137 steps with buckets of oil in their hands,these youngsters can retire to a warm bunk while an automated beaconslashes the darkness.

About 60 miles from Pigeon Point, another automated lightpierces the night - joined, every 30 seconds, by the defiant bleat ofa …