The Shopper 3 & Gang trip report part 1
Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 3:20 pm
Departure & Arrival Day
We left home in Canada & drove 4 hrs to Detroit, had a great drive & great dinner at a little pub next to the hotel. Back to the room for a few refreshments to get us in the sleepy mood (this was not to be *
***) .
Had an early flight out of Detroit Wayne at 6:30, got the airport at 5:00 & breezed thru the check-in & security.
Great flight to Ft Lauderdale, while waiting for our connecting flight & eating our carry on lunch we had our eyes roaming the boarding area for Rick G & Christine. Spotted Christine first & then saw Rick. Hubby ( Larry ) & I walked over to Christine & I said HI, are you Christine, she said yes & I told her who I was then Rick G joined us.Big hugs all around... We chatted for a few minutes & then introduced them to Deb & Woody our traveling companions. It was great to finally meet Rick, I have read so many of his posts in the last 9 months. Little did we all know we would spend a great deal of time with each other.
Arrival in St Thomas was great, Deb & Woody had a free rum punch. The girls left the guys to get the luggage while we went to the Duty Free shop for smokes.
This was Deb & Woody's first time to the St John & all they could say when they got out of the airport & on the drive to the ferry was " OH MY GOD, IT IS BEAUTIFUL". Rick told Deb, you ain't seen nothing yet.
We had arranged with Rick & Christine to share a cab to the CA ferry. Once we all had our luggage we loaded in the cab & were off to the ferry. We arrived about a half hour early so unfortunately we had no choice but the grab a cold one or two at the bar in Drakes Passage. Again Deb & Woody were in Awe of the beauty of all that was around. We had a great early Happy Hour at Drakes.
Smooth ferry ride to St John. For Larry & I it was like coming home again, 7 it was extra special seeing our friends reaction to the beauty of St John coming into sight. I do think I enjoyed the ride from CA more than from Red Hook.
Luggage was received in short order.Said bye to Rick & Christine & that we would see them in a few hours at either Woody's or the Beach Bar for the Forum party. We were to call the villa people once we arrived at the ferry in CA, but I was to busy quenching my thrust......, so I tried when I got on the island & John was there in no time. John put our luggage & us in the jeep & drove us up to the Villa Soleil. John showed us around the Villa & was off. We had placed an order with Mixology & it was great to open the fridge
& have a cold one waiting . We all grabbed a beer & went out onto the deck. Deb & Woody were like to kids at Christmas, smiling from ear to ear.
We had nice view from the deck, not great, but then we were not up high, still a wonderful view to wake up to each morning, (this would be our morning meeting place over coffee).
At this point I think I sounded like a drill seargant, I wanted to get to Woody's for Happy Hour.... So I was rushing everyone to get changed, get you $$ ready for the evening & give me the rest to put in the safe along with our passports......... So I have all the passports, my wallet, Deb & Woody's as well in the safe & said to Deb I should check the safe to be sure it works before we close it EH, she said yup, but did I NO, SO WE TRIED TO OPEN IT & IT DIDN'T WORK , We all tried it & it was a no go.... OH Well as long as we had $$ for the evening I figured we would be fine, I we would worry about it tomorrow, so off we headed to Woody's for one of many Happy Hours (yes Rick G was right, we spent all our saving at Woody's). Had dinner at Uncle Joe's this was where Larry & I had our first meal in Nov & we wanted to do it again. A great meal was had by all, then it was off to the Beach Bar to meet up with the Forum group. Spotted the group right off, finally got to meet BugBlu......she sure is a sweetie. BugBlu & I had coordinated making the name tags for the party, so we handed them out, I had also picked up some glowing braclets, as Rick G mentioned everyone wanted one including the band & the bar staff. It was so great to meet so many of the forum family, I wish we could have stayed longer but the late night & travel day had caught up with all of us & we headed home to crash.
Until tomorrow
We left home in Canada & drove 4 hrs to Detroit, had a great drive & great dinner at a little pub next to the hotel. Back to the room for a few refreshments to get us in the sleepy mood (this was not to be *
***) . Had an early flight out of Detroit Wayne at 6:30, got the airport at 5:00 & breezed thru the check-in & security.
Great flight to Ft Lauderdale, while waiting for our connecting flight & eating our carry on lunch we had our eyes roaming the boarding area for Rick G & Christine. Spotted Christine first & then saw Rick. Hubby ( Larry ) & I walked over to Christine & I said HI, are you Christine, she said yes & I told her who I was then Rick G joined us.Big hugs all around... We chatted for a few minutes & then introduced them to Deb & Woody our traveling companions. It was great to finally meet Rick, I have read so many of his posts in the last 9 months. Little did we all know we would spend a great deal of time with each other.
Arrival in St Thomas was great, Deb & Woody had a free rum punch. The girls left the guys to get the luggage while we went to the Duty Free shop for smokes.
This was Deb & Woody's first time to the St John & all they could say when they got out of the airport & on the drive to the ferry was " OH MY GOD, IT IS BEAUTIFUL". Rick told Deb, you ain't seen nothing yet.
We had arranged with Rick & Christine to share a cab to the CA ferry. Once we all had our luggage we loaded in the cab & were off to the ferry. We arrived about a half hour early so unfortunately we had no choice but the grab a cold one or two at the bar in Drakes Passage. Again Deb & Woody were in Awe of the beauty of all that was around. We had a great early Happy Hour at Drakes.
Smooth ferry ride to St John. For Larry & I it was like coming home again, 7 it was extra special seeing our friends reaction to the beauty of St John coming into sight. I do think I enjoyed the ride from CA more than from Red Hook.
Luggage was received in short order.Said bye to Rick & Christine & that we would see them in a few hours at either Woody's or the Beach Bar for the Forum party. We were to call the villa people once we arrived at the ferry in CA, but I was to busy quenching my thrust......, so I tried when I got on the island & John was there in no time. John put our luggage & us in the jeep & drove us up to the Villa Soleil. John showed us around the Villa & was off. We had placed an order with Mixology & it was great to open the fridge
& have a cold one waiting . We all grabbed a beer & went out onto the deck. Deb & Woody were like to kids at Christmas, smiling from ear to ear.
We had nice view from the deck, not great, but then we were not up high, still a wonderful view to wake up to each morning, (this would be our morning meeting place over coffee).
At this point I think I sounded like a drill seargant, I wanted to get to Woody's for Happy Hour.... So I was rushing everyone to get changed, get you $$ ready for the evening & give me the rest to put in the safe along with our passports......... So I have all the passports, my wallet, Deb & Woody's as well in the safe & said to Deb I should check the safe to be sure it works before we close it EH, she said yup, but did I NO, SO WE TRIED TO OPEN IT & IT DIDN'T WORK , We all tried it & it was a no go.... OH Well as long as we had $$ for the evening I figured we would be fine, I we would worry about it tomorrow, so off we headed to Woody's for one of many Happy Hours (yes Rick G was right, we spent all our saving at Woody's). Had dinner at Uncle Joe's this was where Larry & I had our first meal in Nov & we wanted to do it again. A great meal was had by all, then it was off to the Beach Bar to meet up with the Forum group. Spotted the group right off, finally got to meet BugBlu......she sure is a sweetie. BugBlu & I had coordinated making the name tags for the party, so we handed them out, I had also picked up some glowing braclets, as Rick G mentioned everyone wanted one including the band & the bar staff. It was so great to meet so many of the forum family, I wish we could have stayed longer but the late night & travel day had caught up with all of us & we headed home to crash.
Until tomorrow
!!
