170 miles on STJ with Jillian-conclusion

[drd434]

Which unit did you stay in at Cruz Views???

~DRD

[Lindy]

Great start!!! Keep 'em coming please.

[mindehankins]

Donna, yes this was her first trip to St. John. I stopped taking kids on vacations when all they wanted to do was sit in the condo and watch MTV Spring Break, or go to a mall! She's at a point in life where she could really appreciate a vacation.

Loria, I'll add an "updated" when I add some, or PM you. It'll be easier for me to find the trip if I put it on one thread. I'll want to revisit this some day

[ski2play]

Minde,

be as wordy as you want and keep them coming, love the pictures.

[betsyv]

Lovin this TR!
Make it as long and wordy as you'd like...
My husband and I will be going in July for our 40th..and I am looking at it snow outside....Its going to be a LONG winter and summer...
Your report will make it a little bit easier to wait....


Thanks!

[melmd]

I have been looking forward to your trip report, so happy to see the first installment. Be as wordy as you want we are all loving it.

[dreamshark]

I love trip reports with lots of detail, even the most mundane. I always learn something. F'r instance, I've been wondering whether you could get a taxi to get up those daunting hills in the "walk-to-town" rentals. Nice to know you can. Hiking up steep hills is not my favorite activity, even in cool weather.

I also love reading about mother-daughter trips. I've had the pleasure of TWO trips alone with my grown daughter, and we had so much fun! There's no better way to bond, imho. I am always delighted to discover (again) how cheerful and competent she is, and she says I'm a lot less grumpy when I'm traveling.

Did you really drive 170 miles in one week? Wow, that's a lot on an island that's only 9 miles long, especially for someone who only just dared to try it for the first time.

As a serious fan of the "Survivor" tv show, I had to laugh (appreciatively) at Jillian's adventure opening the coconut. Good for her for persevering! Next time you'll know to pack a machete.

[Capn Dan and Ruby]

I love long TR's! Especially with cute pictures! Thanks!

[Capn Dan and Ruby]

Tried to PM you about pictures. My PM feature will not work. I need to see if it is my computer or something on the forum. I am having a problem too. I guess you figured it out. What did you do?

[mindehankins]

On Friday, we had a big breakfast of egg and feta quesadillas and fried the green plantains we’d boiled up the night before. I wasn’t a big fan of the plantains, but Jillian liked them. Jillian hadn’t slept well, due to allergies. I felt really bad because I’d told her she wouldn’t need her allergy medicines on STJ – I’d never heard of anyone’s allergies troubling them there, and I’d never had a problem.
We stopped for an iced coffee at Deli Grotto, and headed up the North Shore Road to Francis Bay. We had long, interesting discussions on our drives around island. We were second in the lot at Francis, so we had time to admire the early morning, nearly deserted beach, then Jillian went for a run while I went in for a float.




I didn’t see anything noteworthy, but Jillian clicked this pretty funny picture of me when I came out of the water:

Jillian did get into the water and put the mask on and put her face in, but didn’t like it at all, so we decided to pursue more terrarian entertainment. We went to Tourist Trap for a great lunch.

I was surprised that the Drink Right/Keep Left was a fruity drink – had never had any of the famous STJ drinks before! YUM! The veggie nachos and hot dog stuffed Jillian, while I had the biggest pulled pork sandwich of all time. Mo, our server, was friendly as always, and we had fun checking out the turtles. Such a fun place to hang out! We love the Tourist Trap!

After lunch, we headed to the Lameshurs and walked around the ruins for a long time. I knew she would just love this spot, and we explored more than I ever had before:





I believe we were looking into a cistern, here:

We walked down to the other end of the beach, around the ruins, and went in for a cooling dip. It’s just as beautiful over here, but a rockier entry.

We thought about hiking the Europa trail, but decided to postpone it until later in the trip. We love the Valley Doll hot sauce, so we stopped at Love City Mini Mart (where they really do have everything) for several bottles. I later learned that Ruth has it in her shop now, and that’s where we’ll buy it from now on.
Love city Mini Mart:

We headed home, had Pioneer Woman’s Chicken Spaghetti (brought from home) for dinner, fed the Cruz Views kitty, fed the bananaquits, watched the sunset, and tucked in for the night. What a wonderful, long day – we slept great!

[mindehankins]

I forgot a couple of things :
There was a group of skateboarders on some part of North Shore Road. THAT seemed like a pretty dangerous idea to me. They weren't all in a group, either. We came across several individuals at different points. I think it might have actually been on the road where you turn off of North Shore Rd to go toward Coral Bay. Yikes!

And..... Jillian CRACKED me up by telling me on the ride back to Cruz Bay via Centerline, that she "likes this road better, cause there's more to look at." WHAT??? LOL! She is not a water baby like her mommy

[mindehankins]

Tried to PM you about pictures. My PM feature will not work. I need to see if it is my computer or something on the forum. I am having a problem too. I guess you figured it out. What did you do?

I load the pics onto tiny pics as always, then hit preview and if the pic is bigger than the allowed size (I can't remember what it was, but copied and pasted the warning into the other thread where I was asking questions) then I load the pic again, but choose email sized pic. The pics in a report won't always be the same size, but I couldn't figure out another way around it. Hope that helps!

[loria]

sounds like a great day! love mo, love the trap, love lameshur love francis....love the hotsauce and love love city! that was my perfect day!

[mindehankins]

Which unit did you stay in at Cruz Views???

~DRD

We stayed in 8. We have also stayed in unit 1 and 2.

[mindehankins]

There's no grass growing under our butts, not in the daytime anyway Once the sun sets, we settle right down, thouh.