By the Sea

Before I got there I knew a few things about Blackpool. It had a beach, they lit lights in the fall, and James May had never been there because he ran out of gas.
I know a bit more about Blackpool now. In November, the lights are beautiful, the sea is cold and turbulent, and it never rains. No wait, wait, I mean, it always rains.
It was sunny blue skies for most of our journey to the northwest coast of England. Then we made a turn and, welcome to North England: it's raining. I didn't mind, figuring it would be just like in Cov; rain for 10 minutes then clear up. Oh how wrong I was.
I did feel quite excited to be on the coast, thrilled even to see hear the incessant waves and seagulls. The rain was off and on throughout the day, but mostly on. We had a nice blue badge tour of the high spots. The guide did her best to keep us dry, touring more inside than out. We finished in the center of the city and immediately found the closest chippy as it was raining again. Fish and chips taste better when you're looking at the sea. Though I could have been overly influenced by a warm dry shelter. No, it was still the best fish and chips I've had.

We walked town to the center pier, and popped into the lifeboat store/garage. All the lifeboats in the UK and Ireland (as far as I know) are run by donations and volunteers. The Blackpool boat is very cool and my dad helped me realize that by seeing the rescue boat, the trip was "research."
The pier was huge and had rides, games, and souvenir shops on it. I got a few pieces of Blackpool "rock" which is basically just candy sticks with "Blackpool" written in them.
Around 5 the famous lights were turned on. Blackpool was visited by a royal, (Princess Louise) back in 1912. They decorated some of the streets with lights to greet her, and they liked it so much, they decided to do it every year, growing more spectacular with time. Now, novelty lights line the main promenade for miles, each block having a different theme.
Our trip organizer and bus driver cleverly decided to drive us down the promenade to see the lights and it was far better to see them all warm and dry from the bus. Sorry I didn't have more pictures, but well, I'm sure you can figure the reason.