8 Tuff Miles 2011 TR- Part 1

[SOonthebeach]

Finally- my TR! After live trip reporting last August, I feel like a big old looser waiting three weeks to get this started. But that trip included kids (far fewer adult beverages and earlier nights in the villa). This trip was a little different . Here is part 1.

Let’s start with our travel companions. The guy was my best friend in high school some 25 ish years ago. Yes, I am a girl who had a guy for a best friend, and no, he’s not gay. Even though we have lived in different states for over 20 years, and do not always keep in touch, he is one of those people that you can pick up the phone and it’s just like you saw them yesterday. His wife is even cooler than he is. LOVE her, and my hubby LOVES him. So, although we have spent very little time together as a foursome, we invited them to come along with us to STJ. We knew they would “get it”. We were right. They even agreed to run 8 Tuff Miles with us!

Yea- almost “home” again!


Friends here (we met in STT) and on the ferry. Happy!


REALLY happy now!


Nothing like arriving on STJ. I tear up every time. Our friends saw it, and knew they were in for something special. Whirlwind of bags, meeting our villa rep, picking up the rental car, loading, and driving over to Coral Bay. BTW- a FIRST was my (too brief) visit to Schnell’s Studio to pick up the rental car keys. If you have not been there it is right up the road past the roundabout, going towards South Shore Road (right before Tamarind Inn)- he has some BEAUTIFUL stuff in there. I love the light fixtures. Note to self to get a lot of those for our one-day island home.


We made it to Pink Horses (see my separate review here: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... ses+review ) Loved this house. The view was incredible. One of my favorite quotes by our friends (that was repeated all week)- said very sarcastically…. “Well, this sucks. Ugly. We should just go home”


Quick trip to Lilly’s to stock up (I think we bought all the liquor they had), then Skinny’s for dinner. Yes, we loaded up with groceries then went to a restaurant. I always do that . I was so tired from the day I totally forgot food porn. How dare I ?!?! I will make it up to you with a visit to the G Spot later in the TR. OK that came out sounding bad!! Skinny’s was as awesome as always after a long travel day.

The house was completely screened (but no need since it was so breezy we had ZERO bugs), so we left the doors open and fell asleep to the sounds of the STJ night- nothing better. One thing I noticed, though- I did not hear the “croakie” frogs over in Coral Bay- I always hear them on Gift Hill and at the Westin. Anybody know why?

First full day- sunrise. Are you kidding me? This is breathtaking. Again the quote from our friends “Sucks. Ugly” Said with quite the STJ twinkle in their eyes. Yes, they were getting it already.


Another reason I love these people. I am a planner, but, as Julie Cruise Director for this trip, was trying to keep a lot of options on the table so everyone could have a vote. When given three options of what to do today and what would they prefer, the answer from the wife was “yes”. I said- “yes to which one?” She said “yes” with a wink. They were open to any and all and happy with everything. The BEST people to bring to STJ.

So we took a little tour to show them the island- lots of North Shore overlooks, of course, a little cruise through town (trying to avoid the fence, but alas, they noticed it). Stopped at Mongoose to get the coconut crack- FIRST!


Also drove through Virgin Grand on the way to take them down Gift Hill Road- we love to take newbies up and down Gift Hill Road. One day I am going to rig the video camera to record their faces on some of those switchbacks.

Fun sugar bird sighting in VG:



Then off we went to Jumbie- FIRST for us- yea! I was determined to cross off a lot of firsts this trip- full list will be in the last installment. We lucked out and found a spot- really lucky since we got a late start.

Again- “Sucks. Ugly”. Really awful beach Wow- we loved it here. We will definitely be back to Jumbie. The surf was really kickin’ it that day so no snorkeling, but lots of lounging We like lounging. Forgot ice in the cooler for the home made painkillers but the nice folks sitting down the beach from us were happy to share- thank you nice folks!


Lots of lazing around and staring at this


And this


Wow this was getting old so we headed to the next beach. Another first- the park at Caneel and walk to Honeymoon. We had been to Honeymoon before from a hobie, so the $10 park, walk, enjoy the beach, stop at the bar on the way out to cover the $10 was new.



I think we’re pretty relaxed now


"Self portrait" of all 4 of us- I love the shadow portraits!


When I was at the front desk at Caneel getting my parking “validated”, I met Jeremy Zuber (he works there). For those that are not 8 Tuff runners or followers, “Zube” has won the race 6 times and has huge local support. I acted like a 13 year old girl meeting Justin Bieber. A little embarrassing. Alas, Zuber was not destined to win this year, but I am rooting for him again next year! Go Zube Go!

Speaking of the race, it was time to head to the Tap Room to pick up our numbers. I love a race that has you go to a bar to pick up your bibs. Oh, first a quick stop at St. John spice for some grill rub for Friday night- plus some sauces and a new “island dog” collar for our newest baby, Little Cinnamon (a pug). Once at Tap Room, we hung out for a little while. As always, Peter Alter (the organizer of 8 Tuff) makes the entire process so organized and easy. The only hard part was knowing the race was just over a day away- gulp.

We met up with our new friend (and lurker)- code name on this trip was Marty. Marty was down a day early- the rest of his group, including benchill, was arriving the next day. Marty- when are you joining the forum? We all headed to Café Roma for some awesome food- they had my favorite salad special- Josephine’s greens with all kinds of yumminess on top and a vinagarette- I added chicken. Again, no food porn. What is my problem?? The rest of the gang had various forms of pasta- all fantastic. Huge portions, but we all managed to clean our plates!


Then the drive back over to Coral Bay and bed. As Julie Cruise Director, and knowing the drinking habits of my beloved (the only other driver of record) when we’re on island sans kids, I appointed myself DD for the trip, and I got REALLY good at the drive between the towns, even in the dark. Another first! It felt nice to be so comfortable driving back and forth across the island day and night. I really like driving on the left!

Day 2 dawned. Again, with this sunrise stuff- unbelievable. I’m a crier, and I think I teared up every morning looking at this.


I teared up even more when my gaze landed on the Coral Bay ball field- they were in final prep for the race the next day (the ball field is the finish), and we could see the finish line and the tents about to go up. GULP.


Easy day today- had to run over to Starfish to get some provisions- Lilly’s was out of some stuff. Quick stop at Donkey Diner because it was open- yet another first! I cannot believe after 14-15 trips we have never been in Donkey Diner. We'll never make that mistake again.


Only got coffee today but made a plan to come back later in the week- I promise you I have some food porn from there- in a later installment. Then we spent the rest of the day experiencing a lot of villa gravity. I got fascinated by the view of the boats behind the pretty flowers:


We headed out in the afternoon, but not too far from home- headed to Lameshur- both big and little- another FIRST- yea! These were cool beaches. Love that they are so close together but one is sandy and one is rocky. The drive to get to them is fun too. One in our party really had “to go” and all of those potholes led to some entertaining screeches from the back seat. The port-a-potty at the end of the road was a welcome sight



I also loved this giant coral



We worked up a thirst and needed a new installment of Larry at Tourist Trap, so off we went. Larry was as entertaining as always, the Drink Right, Keep Left was as tasty as always, as were the nachos and other goodies we had. At this point I am really embarrassed about the lack of food porn, but you can get a glimpse of the nachos behind the drinks


Back to the house for some staring at the view, some grilling, a little pre-race carb load, and early to bed- race day was the next day… dum, dum, dum…….

[loria]

great start! and folks- I can attest, these guys are fun!

[kristen1206]

loving your report so far! We looked at Pink Horses too and now I am regretting not going the CB route just a bit

Looks like a fun trip..can't wait to read and see more!

[patrbng]

I'm always here lurking around and building my plans for the big move. Until them, I'm stuck with our pictures and KC/ZB concerts..

Awesome pictures and thanks for the call out!

Happy my day BTW!

[hugo]

Re your question about coqui frogs (i think that's what you meant?) they were brought in from Puerto Rico with replacement palm trees at the Westin (then still the Virgin Grand) after Hurricane Hugo, and they've spread up Guinea Gut onto Gift Hill, but so far they're nowhere else on the island. They are very distinctive sounding frogs, and not to be confused with our3 species of native tree frogs (not coquis); the (also alien) huge and noisy Cuban tree frogs; or the almost-coqui-sounding bo-peeps in the BVI.

[SOonthebeach]

Marty- you're here- yea!!!! So glad to see you! Is it your bday? Hey- when you guys move let us know- we wanna come too! We've looked into the schools

Hugo- thanks so much for the scoop. That is so interesting. Yes, we call them "croakie" on purpose- the kids call them that. There were all kinds of great noises in Coral Bay, but definitely not the coquis. Learned something tonight- thanks.

[Tracy in WI]

Great report so far - and I am doing 8 Tuff one of these years!

I totally get the Jeremy Zuber thing - when my husband ran the race a few years back, Jeremy, of course, won and he was wearing these neon colored shoes. After the race he was at the same breakfast place we were at in Cruz Bay (what is now Jake's) and we were in awe!

A few months later, my husband was running the Boston Marathon and so was Jeremy. As a spectator at Boston, it is hard enough to find anyone you know. But, here comes the Zube in those neon shoes! I called out to him and he had no clue who I was! Just an anonymous fan cheering him on.

[jmq]

Good stuff. Impressive camera work - good variety in the point of view, etc. Thanks!

[SOonthebeach]

Good stuff. Impressive camera work - good variety in the point of view, etc. Thanks!

Thanks! I only brought my little point and shoot this trip. Missed my big camera and lenses, but it was a lot easier with this one. Still got some fun shots!

[msgcolleen]

"This trip report really sucks, boring, why bother?"

NOT!!

No, really, really great start! Love your pics, love your friends, love the villa and all the firsts leading up to the big race! GULP!
More pleeze~~~~~~

[Kentuckygirl]

Ahhhhh, just catching up! You're making me look really bad. I still haven't put up my mini report!! I will say that I agree with Loria...you're newbies were fun too!

[hoosierdaddy]

Great trip report.
What is Coconut Crack and where can I get some?