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Griswold's in the VI -Day 8- 4th of July!
-
LandLockedBeachLover
- Posts: 374
- Joined: Mon Nov 06, 2006 9:16 am
- Location: St. Louis, MO
Griswold's in the VI -Day 8- 4th of July!
Day 8; July 4th! As a Marriott Elite member, we are treated to a free breakfast at the Sunset Grill at the Marriott. We thought this was going to be some sort of a sales pitch, but as it turns out, it was just a free breakfast 
! The best we had all week -- as we’d previously survived on breakfast bars, while the kids had donuts. Economical but boring. The buffet had French toast, sausage, eggs, hashbrowns, bagels, fruit, mimosas ( 
), smoothies, pastries (really good banana nut muffins). Since it’s FREE, told the kids to EAT UP! We reluctantly checked out of the Marriott and made our way back to the Best Western Carib Beach.
We chose this hotel since it was, well, the only room I could find for the night of the 4th that was relatively close to the airport. We’ve stayed at Emerald Beach a couple times, so I assumed this would be the same caliber hotel. Wrong!
Check-in time is 4 pm, so we had a few hours to kill. We first tried the pool at the Carib, but it was SO small. I admit that, at this point, ADD/HMG are also spoiled by the pools at both the Marriott and Emerald Beach. There isn’t a beach here, but more of a sandy area where they have 4 lounge chairs. You have to climb over a 3 ft section of rocks to get into the ocean. I tried to snorkel here, but it was pretty murky and algae-filled. Bleck! So, we decided to walk down to Lindbergh Bay again. ODH is now tired of the sun and fairly crisp on his back. So he’s copping a spot in the shade. HMG and I try to be “artsy” for some pictures. 
ADD boy is thoroughly, shall I say, bored?
Yep, that’s it. We watch a beach wedding at HIGH NOON where the guys were in full tuxedos with vests and ladies in full-length satin gowns. In full-on sun for the ceremony - - glad I wasn’t them! Boy, were they all sweaty! I did also feel bad for them in that The Island Beachcomber bar started up with a John Cougar Mellencamp CD blasting across the beach about the time the ceremony began. Hopefully they were named Jack and Diane 
…
After this, we decide to head into CA for some lunch and more shopping since all appear to be tiring of the sun. We head to Glady’s Café per the recommendation of many forum posters. Neat place with a New Orleans feel. Gladys sang. ADD boy decided to try all the hot sauces, much to our chagrin . See him reaching for a soda here with mouth on fire! 
We didn’t order anything out-of-the-ordinary, so nothing was really stand-out. Another $42 lunch. Oh well. Stopped by Blackbeard Ale for our free sample, and ordered two to go. Stopped by Edy’s for the kids and “dessert” in form of brew for us. ODH bought a cigar. Spent some time in vendor plaza. I was going to buy a couple purses, but the prices were higher than what I remember. So I used restraint, and we bought a couple beers instead. More beers at Jen’s Island Cafe (Jen is a hoot - - I hope she joins the forum).
Don’tcha sense a common theme here (beer)? Advantage of calling a cab to drive home!
We checked in Carib Beach, and the rooms are actually fairly clean and spacious. Could have been beer goggles though. At any rate, we cleaned up to head for Red Hook for fireworks, as we didn’t feel like fighting the ferry and crowds in Cruz Bay (I see from Blu’s report that we missed a great time on STJ - - oh well, next time
) Plus I had a hidden agenda in that I wanted to have another “pie from heaven” at Island Time Pub (old Sopchoppy’s)! While we were waiting, HMG and I went to Dolphin Dreams where I got my hook bracelet last vacation. Drunk shopping is the best! They had a hook ring, which seemed like a perfectly reasonable purchase ($50). Plus I knew she has good, quality jewelry. Wanted to buy a t-shirt for ODH but wasn’t sure which one he’d like. You have to understand that ODH needs a t-shirt for this trip as “Virgin Island wear” is a permanent fixture in his weekend wardrobe. Went back to our table, and ODH proceeded to take ADD boy down to Dolphin Dreams to pick out the exact t-shirt I was going to buy. OK. Shopping is complete now! We had a great table to view the fireworks, although you just don’t realize how small they can look from 5 miles away! We probably should have fought the crowds to at least see the fireworks on STJ. Oh well. Next time . I think I’m repeating myself in my regret…
We had a great time, though! Caught a taxi back, which ended up being a one-hour island tour by the time the driver pooled about 5 families into his cab. Ritz, Secret Harbor, Marriott, Emerald Beach. All ahead of us.
Urgh. We anally set 3 alarm clocks for 4:20 a.m., in addition to the wake-up call so we’d be there 2 hours ahead of our 7 am flight. Head hit the pillow at 10:30 p.m. with no drink. Kids were too tired to bicker in their small double bed.
! The best we had all week -- as we’d previously survived on breakfast bars, while the kids had donuts. Economical but boring. The buffet had French toast, sausage, eggs, hashbrowns, bagels, fruit, mimosas ( ), smoothies, pastries (really good banana nut muffins). Since it’s FREE, told the kids to EAT UP! We reluctantly checked out of the Marriott and made our way back to the Best Western Carib Beach. We chose this hotel since it was, well, the only room I could find for the night of the 4th that was relatively close to the airport. We’ve stayed at Emerald Beach a couple times, so I assumed this would be the same caliber hotel. Wrong!
Check-in time is 4 pm, so we had a few hours to kill. We first tried the pool at the Carib, but it was SO small. I admit that, at this point, ADD/HMG are also spoiled by the pools at both the Marriott and Emerald Beach. There isn’t a beach here, but more of a sandy area where they have 4 lounge chairs. You have to climb over a 3 ft section of rocks to get into the ocean. I tried to snorkel here, but it was pretty murky and algae-filled. Bleck! So, we decided to walk down to Lindbergh Bay again. ODH is now tired of the sun and fairly crisp on his back. So he’s copping a spot in the shade. HMG and I try to be “artsy” for some pictures. ADD boy is thoroughly, shall I say, bored?
Yep, that’s it. We watch a beach wedding at HIGH NOON where the guys were in full tuxedos with vests and ladies in full-length satin gowns. In full-on sun for the ceremony - - glad I wasn’t them! Boy, were they all sweaty! I did also feel bad for them in that The Island Beachcomber bar started up with a John Cougar Mellencamp CD blasting across the beach about the time the ceremony began. Hopefully they were named Jack and Diane …After this, we decide to head into CA for some lunch and more shopping since all appear to be tiring of the sun. We head to Glady’s Café per the recommendation of many forum posters. Neat place with a New Orleans feel. Gladys sang. ADD boy decided to try all the hot sauces, much to our chagrin
. See him reaching for a soda here with mouth on fire! We didn’t order anything out-of-the-ordinary, so nothing was really stand-out. Another $42 lunch. Oh well. Stopped by Blackbeard Ale for our free sample, and ordered two to go. Stopped by Edy’s for the kids and “dessert” in form of brew for us. ODH bought a cigar. Spent some time in vendor plaza. I was going to buy a couple purses, but the prices were higher than what I remember. So I used restraint, and we bought a couple beers instead. More beers at Jen’s Island Cafe (Jen is a hoot - - I hope she joins the forum).
Don’tcha sense a common theme here (beer)? Advantage of calling a cab to drive home!
We checked in Carib Beach, and the rooms are actually fairly clean and spacious. Could have been beer goggles though. At any rate, we cleaned up to head for Red Hook for fireworks, as we didn’t feel like fighting the ferry and crowds in Cruz Bay (I see from Blu’s report that we missed a great time on STJ - - oh well, next time
) Plus I had a hidden agenda in that I wanted to have another “pie from heaven” at Island Time Pub (old Sopchoppy’s)! While we were waiting, HMG and I went to Dolphin Dreams where I got my hook bracelet last vacation. Drunk shopping is the best! They had a hook ring, which seemed like a perfectly reasonable purchase ($50). Plus I knew she has good, quality jewelry. Wanted to buy a t-shirt for ODH but wasn’t sure which one he’d like. You have to understand that ODH needs a t-shirt for this trip as “Virgin Island wear” is a permanent fixture in his weekend wardrobe. Went back to our table, and ODH proceeded to take ADD boy down to Dolphin Dreams to pick out the exact t-shirt I was going to buy. OK. Shopping is complete now! We had a great table to view the fireworks, although you just don’t realize how small they can look from 5 miles away! We probably should have fought the crowds to at least see the fireworks on STJ. Oh well. Next time . I think I’m repeating myself in my regret…We had a great time, though! Caught a taxi back, which ended up being a one-hour island tour by the time the driver pooled about 5 families into his cab. Ritz, Secret Harbor, Marriott, Emerald Beach. All ahead of us.
Urgh. We anally set 3 alarm clocks for 4:20 a.m., in addition to the wake-up call so we’d be there 2 hours ahead of our 7 am flight. Head hit the pillow at 10:30 p.m. with no drink. Kids were too tired to bicker in their small double bed.
