The Pilgrim Monument - Part 1

I'd been in Provincetown for less than 24 hours and had already seen a lot. I'd hiked the shoreline and sand dunes at Head-Of-The-Meadow Beach, walked out onto the breakwater at the tip of the Cape, and explored the downtown of Provincetown. Now I decided that since I might never be in Provincetown again, I should go visit the Pilgrim Monument. Though I'd been inside and to the top in the past, it was so long ago that I couldn't even remember if one used stairs or an elevator:

So after eating breakfast, I headed to the monument, paid my admission (getting the first "senior discount" of my life) and entered the museum. The museum was OK, but the monument itself was the main attraction and I was anxious to get inside it. So I walked up the steps from the museum to the base of the monument, passing this little house on the way. I'd guess that once upon a time, that's where tickets were sold:

I was the first visitor to the monument that day and its caretaker was waiting at the base. He offered to take my photo before we began our ascent:

Even at the base of the monument, one could see out over Provincetown and the Atlantic ocean:

But the time soon came for the caretaker to head up into the monument and I followed shortly thereafter:

There was no elevator, but steps at the bottom:

And after a couple of flights of steps, the ascent was made on concrete ramps. This is what I saw looking up into the tower from below. The concrete walkways circled the monument, attached to the granite sides. Climbing all that was a daunting prospect:

But I began my ascent and a few others soon followed. Looking down from one of the lower tiers, I photographed people walking up the concrete ramps below me:

The winds were howling everywhere that day in Provincetown, but at the top of the Pilgrim Monument, they were especially fierce. The views, however, were astounding:

I could see out over the tip of the Cape in all directions. And the Cape was so narrow there that I could see ocean in all directions. I'll post more about the monument tomorrow: