Girl's trip 2011 - Day 1
Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 11:27 pm
Sunday Oct. 30th
We woke up the next morning and dug our food out of the mound of remaining ice. Surprisingly, it had lasted long enough to keep everything nice and cold. It actually took a while to melt the remaining ice so that we could shower quickly before heading to the airport. We'd heard several planes take off during the night so we were hoping for the best. There were still some snowy patches here and there, but it looked like we were in luck. We hopped the shuttle to airport and checked our bags when we arrived. A quick look at the monitors confirmed that our rescheduled flight was not only still on, but it was actually "on time". Woohoo!!
Once we got to the gate we grabbed some breakfast and had time to call home while waiting to board. We found out that they had received a total of 22 inches of snow on the home front. Just north of us over the Massachusetts state lines some areas had received an astonishing 32 inches of snow. All three spouses were without power, roads were closed and the govenor had declared the entire state a disaster area. My hubby was especially cranky when I called - he realized after I left that he should have picked up a few groceries as I had nagged him to do in the morning before the snow started. He was stopped at a stop sign on the way to the store when another car turning onto the street slid on the snow and smashed in the door of his company car. To add insult to injury, he also forgot the emergency measure to fill the bathtub with water. That meant that when the electricity went out he was left without heat OR water (we are on a well) - not only could he not shower or shave, but there was no water to flush toilets. He was NOT a happy camper…in fact he’s NOT a camper at all since his idea of roughing it is anything less than the Hyatt. I had to remind him that there was 22 inches of snow on the lawn and a gas stove in the kitchen so he could make do with that until the power came back on. I had a momentary pang of guilt but that totally evaporated when they started the boarding for our flight right on time. Everything was going so smoothly that we couldn't believe it! There was a minor delay so that our plane could be de-iced but we were soon in the air.
Once we got off the ground there was a big sigh of relief - not only had we managed to salvage our vacation, but we were on a direct flight that allowed us several more hours of sleep and would get us to St. Thomas an hour earlier than our original flight. And the cherry of top was the fact that we picked the best darned week of the year to NOT be at home!! Yep, a quick glance across the aisle to Lori confirmed it -we were "officially" f-ing BRILLIANT!!! That would be our "motto" for the rest of the trip.
We landed on St. Thomas, stopped for a quick shot at the rum cart and gathered our luggage. Rachel was there waiting for us with a big smile on her face. We grabbed some customs forms for our return trip and headed off for Red Hook. We surprised Rachel with a birthday gift when we reached the ferry station. (See http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... 53f88009fd for details.)
It was hot and sunny as we boarded the ferry for the short ride to St. John. Another round of phone calls home revealed that Hubby had been afraid to take his car out of the garage all morning because, even though he drives a Hummer, he was afraid that the snow was sufficiently deep to catch on the car frame and result in getting stuck in the snow. Our usual snowplower had come to clear the driveway but the mass of heavy, wet snow was too much for his pick-up truck fitted with a snow plow. He had to call the husband and son of one of my traveling companions to come and clear the driveway with their large scale tractor/snow blower. Even if he had been able to get out he couldn’t have gone far since there were trees blocking the roads everywhere. News reports indicated that power would not be restored for at least 4 more days in most areas and they were expected low temperatures in the 20's that night. We were looking more and more brilliant by the minute!! The description of the destruction at home was a little concerning…at least until we came into Cruz Bay and the ferry docked, then it was swept from our minds. WE HAD ARRIVED!!! HURRAY!!
We waited for our bags and made the walk down the ferry dock waiving at the web cam even though it was doubtful that anyone at home had power to sign on to the internet. We were met by one of the Marys from Private Homes for Private Vacations. She took us to C&C to pick up our car and then we made our way up Rock Ridge Road to this year’s villa Kia Ora (formerly Tesseract). Mary showed us around the place and we were pleasantly surprised at the spaciousness of our accomodations. We were on a tighter budget this time and while not the most updated villa we’d ever stayed in it was certainly comfortable, conveniently located and had the breathtaking views that we loved so much. After some discussion we settled on how to settle four women into 3 bedrooms.
Despite my protests I was given the “master” because I had done the planning and booking for the trip. My room had a King size bed and a “garden” bath. That meant that there was a large planting area in the bathroom area….not an outdoor shower, but an actual inside garden area (a screened skylight area allow sunlight and rain to access the plants). This room also had a slider which opened onto the pool deck to the West and a bank of jalousy windows to the South. Even without AC this room was extremely comfortable at night with the windows open to the sea breeze and the ceiling fan on.
Val and Lori took the other upstairs bedroom on the opposite side of the house. There was a small TV/library room off of the sleeping area with two twin beds and another full bath. That room was airconditioned. Chris took the downstairs bedroom with two queen beds and a third private bath. There was a laundry room on the lower level also.
There was a dining area between the two upstairs bedrooms that had a glassed in solarium feel with a view out to tropical plantings. The kitchen was on this level also and was the one area that gave away the age of the villa but it was well stocked and functional so that was easily overlooked. A few steps down was a livingroom area with rattan furniture and a killer view of the South shore. Off this level was a covered outdoor dining area. And a few steps up on the outdoor deck was the pool with another killer view to the Southeast including Dittliff Point. For the price it was more than satisfactory!
We dropped out suitcases in our rooms and took a few minutes to wash the travel grime off and we were in the car heading back to Cruz Bay. It took less than 10 minutes to get back into town from that location….SWEET! Being Sunday night I wanted to hit the Beach Bar to FINALLY meet some forumites so we found a parking space in the municipal lot and walked down the beach just as the sun was setting. How perfect was that??!! Lots of folks at the Beach Bar when we got there and we were starving after a day of travelling so we ordered some drinks and food and I headed off to the beach area to see if I could find some forumites. I ran into Goldendaze and another couple from Indiana whose screen names I can’t recall (forgive me, travel and hunger amnesia!!!) and we talked for a bit. I mentioned the tribulations of getting there this time and they were very surprised to hear about the massive disaster taking place in the New England area. Luckily they could slip back into that lovely island oblivion that you get as soon as you get off the ferry and so did I. I didn’t care if all hell was breaking loose at home…I was in my happy place!
Two Lime in the Coconuts and an order of Conch fritters later I was pleasantly relaxed and ready to face the shopping trip at Starfish Market. That went fairly quickly since we had brought many of the breakfast items in our luggage and we planned to avoid cooking dinners as much as possible. We got back to the villa, put all of our food away and decided to try the pool since we were still adjusting to the warmth. The pool at Kia Ora was absolutely delightful! It was probably the warmest pool of any of the villas we’d rented and it felt heavenly after a day of travel.
After cooling off with a swim we settled at the outdoor dining table and enjoy some wine and conversation while being serenaded by the tree frogs. Ahhhhhhhhh….something about those night sounds on STJ just reverberates through my soul. I was HOME! After several glasses of wine SOMEONE got the brilliant idea of hitting the Coconut Cruzan left by prior tenants. Oh wait…that was ME!! So sorry, not so brilliant - but it was delicious after a day of travel. I had NO problems falling asleep that night knowing that we had made it there by the skin of our teeth.
We woke up the next morning and dug our food out of the mound of remaining ice. Surprisingly, it had lasted long enough to keep everything nice and cold. It actually took a while to melt the remaining ice so that we could shower quickly before heading to the airport. We'd heard several planes take off during the night so we were hoping for the best. There were still some snowy patches here and there, but it looked like we were in luck. We hopped the shuttle to airport and checked our bags when we arrived. A quick look at the monitors confirmed that our rescheduled flight was not only still on, but it was actually "on time". Woohoo!!
Once we got to the gate we grabbed some breakfast and had time to call home while waiting to board. We found out that they had received a total of 22 inches of snow on the home front. Just north of us over the Massachusetts state lines some areas had received an astonishing 32 inches of snow. All three spouses were without power, roads were closed and the govenor had declared the entire state a disaster area. My hubby was especially cranky when I called - he realized after I left that he should have picked up a few groceries as I had nagged him to do in the morning before the snow started. He was stopped at a stop sign on the way to the store when another car turning onto the street slid on the snow and smashed in the door of his company car. To add insult to injury, he also forgot the emergency measure to fill the bathtub with water. That meant that when the electricity went out he was left without heat OR water (we are on a well) - not only could he not shower or shave, but there was no water to flush toilets. He was NOT a happy camper…in fact he’s NOT a camper at all since his idea of roughing it is anything less than the Hyatt. I had to remind him that there was 22 inches of snow on the lawn and a gas stove in the kitchen so he could make do with that until the power came back on. I had a momentary pang of guilt but that totally evaporated when they started the boarding for our flight right on time. Everything was going so smoothly that we couldn't believe it! There was a minor delay so that our plane could be de-iced but we were soon in the air.
Once we got off the ground there was a big sigh of relief - not only had we managed to salvage our vacation, but we were on a direct flight that allowed us several more hours of sleep and would get us to St. Thomas an hour earlier than our original flight. And the cherry of top was the fact that we picked the best darned week of the year to NOT be at home!! Yep, a quick glance across the aisle to Lori confirmed it -we were "officially" f-ing BRILLIANT!!! That would be our "motto" for the rest of the trip.
We landed on St. Thomas, stopped for a quick shot at the rum cart and gathered our luggage. Rachel was there waiting for us with a big smile on her face. We grabbed some customs forms for our return trip and headed off for Red Hook. We surprised Rachel with a birthday gift when we reached the ferry station. (See http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... 53f88009fd for details.)
It was hot and sunny as we boarded the ferry for the short ride to St. John. Another round of phone calls home revealed that Hubby had been afraid to take his car out of the garage all morning because, even though he drives a Hummer, he was afraid that the snow was sufficiently deep to catch on the car frame and result in getting stuck in the snow. Our usual snowplower had come to clear the driveway but the mass of heavy, wet snow was too much for his pick-up truck fitted with a snow plow. He had to call the husband and son of one of my traveling companions to come and clear the driveway with their large scale tractor/snow blower. Even if he had been able to get out he couldn’t have gone far since there were trees blocking the roads everywhere. News reports indicated that power would not be restored for at least 4 more days in most areas and they were expected low temperatures in the 20's that night. We were looking more and more brilliant by the minute!! The description of the destruction at home was a little concerning…at least until we came into Cruz Bay and the ferry docked, then it was swept from our minds. WE HAD ARRIVED!!! HURRAY!!
We waited for our bags and made the walk down the ferry dock waiving at the web cam even though it was doubtful that anyone at home had power to sign on to the internet. We were met by one of the Marys from Private Homes for Private Vacations. She took us to C&C to pick up our car and then we made our way up Rock Ridge Road to this year’s villa Kia Ora (formerly Tesseract). Mary showed us around the place and we were pleasantly surprised at the spaciousness of our accomodations. We were on a tighter budget this time and while not the most updated villa we’d ever stayed in it was certainly comfortable, conveniently located and had the breathtaking views that we loved so much. After some discussion we settled on how to settle four women into 3 bedrooms.
Despite my protests I was given the “master” because I had done the planning and booking for the trip. My room had a King size bed and a “garden” bath. That meant that there was a large planting area in the bathroom area….not an outdoor shower, but an actual inside garden area (a screened skylight area allow sunlight and rain to access the plants). This room also had a slider which opened onto the pool deck to the West and a bank of jalousy windows to the South. Even without AC this room was extremely comfortable at night with the windows open to the sea breeze and the ceiling fan on.
Val and Lori took the other upstairs bedroom on the opposite side of the house. There was a small TV/library room off of the sleeping area with two twin beds and another full bath. That room was airconditioned. Chris took the downstairs bedroom with two queen beds and a third private bath. There was a laundry room on the lower level also.
There was a dining area between the two upstairs bedrooms that had a glassed in solarium feel with a view out to tropical plantings. The kitchen was on this level also and was the one area that gave away the age of the villa but it was well stocked and functional so that was easily overlooked. A few steps down was a livingroom area with rattan furniture and a killer view of the South shore. Off this level was a covered outdoor dining area. And a few steps up on the outdoor deck was the pool with another killer view to the Southeast including Dittliff Point. For the price it was more than satisfactory!
We dropped out suitcases in our rooms and took a few minutes to wash the travel grime off and we were in the car heading back to Cruz Bay. It took less than 10 minutes to get back into town from that location….SWEET! Being Sunday night I wanted to hit the Beach Bar to FINALLY meet some forumites so we found a parking space in the municipal lot and walked down the beach just as the sun was setting. How perfect was that??!! Lots of folks at the Beach Bar when we got there and we were starving after a day of travelling so we ordered some drinks and food and I headed off to the beach area to see if I could find some forumites. I ran into Goldendaze and another couple from Indiana whose screen names I can’t recall (forgive me, travel and hunger amnesia!!!) and we talked for a bit. I mentioned the tribulations of getting there this time and they were very surprised to hear about the massive disaster taking place in the New England area. Luckily they could slip back into that lovely island oblivion that you get as soon as you get off the ferry and so did I. I didn’t care if all hell was breaking loose at home…I was in my happy place!
Two Lime in the Coconuts and an order of Conch fritters later I was pleasantly relaxed and ready to face the shopping trip at Starfish Market. That went fairly quickly since we had brought many of the breakfast items in our luggage and we planned to avoid cooking dinners as much as possible. We got back to the villa, put all of our food away and decided to try the pool since we were still adjusting to the warmth. The pool at Kia Ora was absolutely delightful! It was probably the warmest pool of any of the villas we’d rented and it felt heavenly after a day of travel.
After cooling off with a swim we settled at the outdoor dining table and enjoy some wine and conversation while being serenaded by the tree frogs. Ahhhhhhhhh….something about those night sounds on STJ just reverberates through my soul. I was HOME! After several glasses of wine SOMEONE got the brilliant idea of hitting the Coconut Cruzan left by prior tenants. Oh wait…that was ME!! So sorry, not so brilliant - but it was delicious after a day of travel. I had NO problems falling asleep that night knowing that we had made it there by the skin of our teeth.
)