T&T Tour Gromits Trip Report Day 4
Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 11:01 am
Day 4 (Monday): Francis, Lunch at Island Blues, Dinner in (skipped it)
iTunes Daily Soundtrack
Mexico – James Taylor
Mondo Bongo – Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros
Groovin Slowly – John Butler Trio
Devils & Angels – Toby Lightman
All I want is You – Michael Franti
Trouble – Ray LaMontagne
Shelter of your Love – Jimmy Cliff
Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off – Joe Nichols
Assassins Tango – John Powell
Sinnerman – Nina Simone
Via Con Me – Paolo Conte
Apologies in advance ‘cause this is where the week starts to get really blurry – at least until Friday (which is, for these purposes, Day 8 – so you can see we’ve got a lot of fuzziness in between Day 4 and Day 8
.
The first few days of the trip I was really great at writing down all the details of everything we did in my pink, leather-bound Aspinal of London pinkmail journal: http://www.aspinaloflondon.com/eshop-ca ... pink-calf.
But In true vacation style I started to REALLY.SLOW.DOWN.
I also think that the previous days were finally catching up to me and since it was vacation I didn’t feel the least bit guilty about letting go of it all.
I am course an only child and I’ve discovered over the years that I really need my down time especially when I am travelling with a lot of people. Like a two year old - if I don’t get my down time I can get pretty cranky. So I need to self regulate.
Turns out letting go and wanting some down time can also be interpreted as not giving a sh!t and can be quickly misinterpreted by family members (read: my MOTHER) as something more than it actually is. More on that later.
Anyway, for the purposes of this Trip Report I will try to pull it together!
So according to my pictures (and reading Flip Flops Trip Report for this day) we went to Francis. Definitely not a bad way to spend the day.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/5b ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4ypwZiy7vU8/Sky8v ... 0.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-N ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4ypwZiy7vU8/Sky8w ... 1.JPG"></a>
Cousin Gromit assumed her usual position of having a nose in her book and occasionally blurting out, “This Doesn’t Suck” because of the sheer joy of being on island. She was reading “My Sisters Keeper” and pronounced it as a pretty awesome read.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3c ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4ypwZiy7vU8/Sky8x ... 2.JPG"></a>
This was Cousin Gromit’s first trip to anyplace like STJ and it was so much fun introducing her to the island and all of its character. She definitely “got it” and was a joy to have on this trip.
Cousin Gromit and I share the same birthday: December 13. (Turns out that McDomzals hubby also shares the same birthday - which is weird isn’t it?) For the record I was born at 13:13 on the 13th of December. That explains a lot about me. And I consider 13 my lucky number. I am thrilled to sit in the 13th row of any aircraft and I usually do. Haven’t crashed yet (knock on wood).
Anyway, I digress, back to Francis.
Francis is a great beach and we usually find pretty decent parking. The beach is long and wide and unlike SOME PEOPLE on this forum I have no aversion to chickens.
IMHO they are great ‘cause they keep the bugs away. Both Maho and Francis sport their fair share of brown pelicans and I can hang out in the water for hours watching them dive for fish. Very entertaining. For me anyway.
I didn’t get a shot of it but I noticed one of those “mine.mine.mine” birds literally SITTING on the back of a pelican floating in the water, hoping to get the leftovers. Talk about a lazy bastard.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/29 ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_4ypwZiy7vU8/Sky8t ... 8.JPG"></a>
Anyway, I wished I had one of those new fangled cameras and could have zoomed in closer to grab the shot, but I don’t have one of those and you’ll just have to take my word for it that it was pretty damn hilarious.
Anyway after we were sufficiently pruney and thoroughly baked and tanned for the day we decided it was time to head out for lunch.
We have no problems visiting Skinny Legs repeatedly during any trip and even ordering the same thing day after day (yeah, I can be boring like that). So cousin Gromit, Tony Stewart and me agree on Skinnys. We hopped in the Jeep and headed to Coral Bay.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/fX ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4ypwZiy7vU8/Sky9q ... 2.JPG"></a>
When we got to the Wall Street Complex it was COVERED UP with cars. I have never seen that parking lot so crowded.
Well, since – as you already know - I am all about being where people are not, we decided to detour and give Island Blues a shot for lunch instead. It was actually pretty late for lunch but we were in a chillaxing mood and were just fine with whatever.
Turns out there were only two other people at Island Blues.
Now I know from the proprietors perspective this isn’t a good thing, but from a Gromit perspective this is a GREAT thing. Nothing like having a spot to yourself (or what feels like it anyway).
We had a wonderful waiter, who was extremely “easy on the eyes.” He gave us his name but I forgot it quickly as I grabbed the napkin from my lap to contain the drool.
Cousin Gromit is herself “easy on the eyes” and was working all of her charms (quite successfully I might add) with our waiter.
We didn’t get any free drinks out of it but he was very attentive and we tipped him generously – in $1’s. He looked at me a little funny when I shoved them into his waistband... but whatever. (kidding!)
The food was great at Island Blues as were the painkillers. I would like to tell you what I ate that afternoon but again, I was a little, ummmm….. distracted.
I love my husband. I love my husband. I love my husband.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3A ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4ypwZiy7vU8/Skow7 ... 7.JPG"></a>
Hey look, I’m married… I’m not dead! Lookie, no touchie. I get it.
Anyway, after a delightful lunch we headed back to the villa for some pool time and relaxation.
Everyone decided to do dinner in. But I was too busy lounging in our bedroom and listening to my audiobook to be bothered. I dozed on and off and before I knew it the room was dark.
BTW – for the trip I ventured into renting movies and downloading them to my iPhone (this worked out great for the plane ride down as I prefer my movies not to be edited within an inch of the directors sanity and I really dislike that Man show with Charlie Sheen and that Duckie guy from Pretty in Pink, which seems to be ubiquitous on flights these days).
I also downloaded a couple of audiobooks for my iPhone as well.
As I have said before, I am a big fan of reading complete and total TRASH while on vacay. My day job is filled with reading and tracking media coverage, white papers and policy papers on transportation. So quite frankly I don’t want to have to THINK on vacation.
Romance novels are my personal brand of heroin for vacay. Don’t judge me OK? I’m entitled.
But instead of buying my usual paperbacks and contributing to the death of trees around the world, I downloaded the audiobooks.
I won’t give you the titles because… well, because I won’t. But suffice to say that it took a little getting used to… having some random woman reading all the stuff that you usually read for yourself. It was a little on the audio-porno side and I still feel like I need a shower two weeks later. It was a bit icky and I doubt I’ll go that route again. I’ve decided that I prefer to READ my romance trash, ahem, novels from now on thankyouverymuch.
But I will definitely download other audio books to my iPhone in future. It was kind of relaxing – in principle.
That evening I took a moment to check my g-mail account and saw that Metro had had a terrible accident that afternoon. Typically when I am on vacay I stay far away from work and my elected officials leave me alone, but this is precisely the time when I usually need to plug into the grid and see what my folks need in terms of assistance with the media.
Metro has its own crisis communications team so I wasn’t needed there but my elected officials sit on the Metro board and I e-mailed them to let them know I was available if they needed me.
Since the accident took place on the MD side, the Virginia elected officials were just staying out of DC and MD’s way on this one so I was somewhat relieved that my guys weren’t out there on their own with the media. Turns out it was the deadliest accident in Metro’s history. Everyone I work with was shocked and devastated. It was a rough day for everyone.
Sadly it was to be an interesting week of tragedy and high profile demise (Michael Jackson, Ed McMahon and that guy who pimps the OxyClean). Seriously. I gotta stop leaving the mainland.
Anyway, once I was assured that my elected officials had what they needed I decided to just let it go, cause there was absolutely nothing I could do about it from STJ and they assured me that they would call or text if they needed anything from me.
So, setting all the tragedy aside I returned to my audio book.
As I listened to the narrator read about the heroine of my trashy novel kidnapping the captain of a ship and sailing with him to an unknown island “She would be teaching him a lesson about seduction….” and to rescue her father who had been kidnapped by pirates, I drifted off into a kind of deep slumber that I can only slip into when I am on St. John….
Tomorrow… Honeymoon, Vies, Carnivore’s (some of my favorite foods are vegetarians) and 101 reasons why you shouldn’t travel with your mother… and how to cope when she loses her mind.
iTunes Daily Soundtrack
Mexico – James Taylor
Mondo Bongo – Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros
Groovin Slowly – John Butler Trio
Devils & Angels – Toby Lightman
All I want is You – Michael Franti
Trouble – Ray LaMontagne
Shelter of your Love – Jimmy Cliff
Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off – Joe Nichols
Assassins Tango – John Powell
Sinnerman – Nina Simone
Via Con Me – Paolo Conte
Apologies in advance ‘cause this is where the week starts to get really blurry – at least until Friday (which is, for these purposes, Day 8 – so you can see we’ve got a lot of fuzziness in between Day 4 and Day 8
. The first few days of the trip I was really great at writing down all the details of everything we did in my pink, leather-bound Aspinal of London pinkmail journal: http://www.aspinaloflondon.com/eshop-ca ... pink-calf.
But In true vacation style I started to REALLY.SLOW.DOWN.
I also think that the previous days were finally catching up to me and since it was vacation I didn’t feel the least bit guilty about letting go of it all.
I am course an only child and I’ve discovered over the years that I really need my down time especially when I am travelling with a lot of people. Like a two year old - if I don’t get my down time I can get pretty cranky. So I need to self regulate.
Turns out letting go and wanting some down time can also be interpreted as not giving a sh!t and can be quickly misinterpreted by family members (read: my MOTHER) as something more than it actually is. More on that later.
Anyway, for the purposes of this Trip Report I will try to pull it together!
So according to my pictures (and reading Flip Flops Trip Report for this day) we went to Francis. Definitely not a bad way to spend the day.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/5b ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4ypwZiy7vU8/Sky8v ... 0.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-N ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4ypwZiy7vU8/Sky8w ... 1.JPG"></a>
Cousin Gromit assumed her usual position of having a nose in her book and occasionally blurting out, “This Doesn’t Suck” because of the sheer joy of being on island. She was reading “My Sisters Keeper” and pronounced it as a pretty awesome read.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3c ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4ypwZiy7vU8/Sky8x ... 2.JPG"></a>
This was Cousin Gromit’s first trip to anyplace like STJ and it was so much fun introducing her to the island and all of its character. She definitely “got it” and was a joy to have on this trip.
Cousin Gromit and I share the same birthday: December 13. (Turns out that McDomzals hubby also shares the same birthday - which is weird isn’t it?) For the record I was born at 13:13 on the 13th of December. That explains a lot about me. And I consider 13 my lucky number. I am thrilled to sit in the 13th row of any aircraft and I usually do. Haven’t crashed yet (knock on wood).
Anyway, I digress, back to Francis.
Francis is a great beach and we usually find pretty decent parking. The beach is long and wide and unlike SOME PEOPLE on this forum I have no aversion to chickens.
IMHO they are great ‘cause they keep the bugs away. Both Maho and Francis sport their fair share of brown pelicans and I can hang out in the water for hours watching them dive for fish. Very entertaining. For me anyway.
I didn’t get a shot of it but I noticed one of those “mine.mine.mine” birds literally SITTING on the back of a pelican floating in the water, hoping to get the leftovers. Talk about a lazy bastard.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/29 ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_4ypwZiy7vU8/Sky8t ... 8.JPG"></a>
Anyway, I wished I had one of those new fangled cameras and could have zoomed in closer to grab the shot, but I don’t have one of those and you’ll just have to take my word for it that it was pretty damn hilarious.
Anyway after we were sufficiently pruney and thoroughly baked and tanned for the day we decided it was time to head out for lunch.
We have no problems visiting Skinny Legs repeatedly during any trip and even ordering the same thing day after day (yeah, I can be boring like that). So cousin Gromit, Tony Stewart and me agree on Skinnys. We hopped in the Jeep and headed to Coral Bay.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/fX ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4ypwZiy7vU8/Sky9q ... 2.JPG"></a>
When we got to the Wall Street Complex it was COVERED UP with cars. I have never seen that parking lot so crowded.
Well, since – as you already know - I am all about being where people are not, we decided to detour and give Island Blues a shot for lunch instead. It was actually pretty late for lunch but we were in a chillaxing mood and were just fine with whatever.
Turns out there were only two other people at Island Blues.
Now I know from the proprietors perspective this isn’t a good thing, but from a Gromit perspective this is a GREAT thing. Nothing like having a spot to yourself (or what feels like it anyway).
We had a wonderful waiter, who was extremely “easy on the eyes.” He gave us his name but I forgot it quickly as I grabbed the napkin from my lap to contain the drool.
Cousin Gromit is herself “easy on the eyes” and was working all of her charms (quite successfully I might add) with our waiter.
We didn’t get any free drinks out of it but he was very attentive and we tipped him generously – in $1’s. He looked at me a little funny when I shoved them into his waistband... but whatever. (kidding!)
The food was great at Island Blues as were the painkillers. I would like to tell you what I ate that afternoon but again, I was a little, ummmm….. distracted.
I love my husband. I love my husband. I love my husband.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3A ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4ypwZiy7vU8/Skow7 ... 7.JPG"></a>
Hey look, I’m married… I’m not dead! Lookie, no touchie. I get it.
Anyway, after a delightful lunch we headed back to the villa for some pool time and relaxation.
Everyone decided to do dinner in. But I was too busy lounging in our bedroom and listening to my audiobook to be bothered. I dozed on and off and before I knew it the room was dark.
BTW – for the trip I ventured into renting movies and downloading them to my iPhone (this worked out great for the plane ride down as I prefer my movies not to be edited within an inch of the directors sanity and I really dislike that Man show with Charlie Sheen and that Duckie guy from Pretty in Pink, which seems to be ubiquitous on flights these days).
I also downloaded a couple of audiobooks for my iPhone as well.
As I have said before, I am a big fan of reading complete and total TRASH while on vacay. My day job is filled with reading and tracking media coverage, white papers and policy papers on transportation. So quite frankly I don’t want to have to THINK on vacation.
Romance novels are my personal brand of heroin for vacay. Don’t judge me OK? I’m entitled.
But instead of buying my usual paperbacks and contributing to the death of trees around the world, I downloaded the audiobooks.
I won’t give you the titles because… well, because I won’t. But suffice to say that it took a little getting used to… having some random woman reading all the stuff that you usually read for yourself. It was a little on the audio-porno side and I still feel like I need a shower two weeks later. It was a bit icky and I doubt I’ll go that route again. I’ve decided that I prefer to READ my romance trash, ahem, novels from now on thankyouverymuch.
But I will definitely download other audio books to my iPhone in future. It was kind of relaxing – in principle.
That evening I took a moment to check my g-mail account and saw that Metro had had a terrible accident that afternoon. Typically when I am on vacay I stay far away from work and my elected officials leave me alone, but this is precisely the time when I usually need to plug into the grid and see what my folks need in terms of assistance with the media.
Metro has its own crisis communications team so I wasn’t needed there but my elected officials sit on the Metro board and I e-mailed them to let them know I was available if they needed me.
Since the accident took place on the MD side, the Virginia elected officials were just staying out of DC and MD’s way on this one so I was somewhat relieved that my guys weren’t out there on their own with the media. Turns out it was the deadliest accident in Metro’s history. Everyone I work with was shocked and devastated. It was a rough day for everyone.
Sadly it was to be an interesting week of tragedy and high profile demise (Michael Jackson, Ed McMahon and that guy who pimps the OxyClean). Seriously. I gotta stop leaving the mainland.
Anyway, once I was assured that my elected officials had what they needed I decided to just let it go, cause there was absolutely nothing I could do about it from STJ and they assured me that they would call or text if they needed anything from me.
So, setting all the tragedy aside I returned to my audio book.
As I listened to the narrator read about the heroine of my trashy novel kidnapping the captain of a ship and sailing with him to an unknown island “She would be teaching him a lesson about seduction….” and to rescue her father who had been kidnapped by pirates, I drifted off into a kind of deep slumber that I can only slip into when I am on St. John….
Tomorrow… Honeymoon, Vies, Carnivore’s (some of my favorite foods are vegetarians) and 101 reasons why you shouldn’t travel with your mother… and how to cope when she loses her mind.
