Where do I begin?
First of all, I’m incredibly grateful just to be home after a grueling, 19-hour travel nightmare. Long story short – we got bumped from our departing flight in St. Thomas then had to fly stand-by all the way home. It was bad. Really bad. (Maybe someday when I can talk about it without seething anger toward the evil she-devils at the American Airlines ticket counter, I’ll tell you about it.)
But I don’t want to focus on that because the reality is that it was one small blip in an otherwise amazing vacation. It was an incredible week of beautiful beaches, fun adventures, and wonderful time spent with friends and family.
At dinner on our last night together, we all went around the table and took turns sharing some of our favorites – favorite beach, favorite meal, favorite memories. I plan to share lots of these vacation photos and memories, but I haven’t had a chance to really look through my nearly 700 (!!) photos. Plus I’m still trying to get all the sand out of my bags and catch up on laundry. So for today I thought I’d share with you what we shared at dinner. In no particular order, here are our ten favorite St. John vacation memories.
10. Time spent at the beach – Whether it was snorkeling, kayaking, relaxing, or frisbee marathons, the incredible white sand beaches and enchanting turquoise water played host to some of our most memorable days in St. John.
9. Cocktails at Woodies – One night before dinner we all stopped for a drink at THE local hotspot in St. John. They are famous for their island cocktail, The Painkiller, and I promise you it did not disappoint…I’m just sayin’.
8. Golf at Mahogany Run on St. Thomas – On Tuesday, the guys enjoyed a fun day at the gorgeous golf course playing really bad golf and chasing iguanas off the 14th hole.
7. Shopping in Cruz Bay at Mongoose Junction – While the guys were chasing iguanas, we girls were enjoying a day of shopping, lunch, and lots of bonding.
6. Chickenfoot marathons on our deck – Yes, it even rains in paradise occasionally, but that didn’t stop us from having fun.
5. Blue Cheese Burgers at Skinny Legs – We decided to drive over to the east side of the island one day and stopped at Skinny Legs Bar and Grill for lunch. Tripp declared that their blue cheese burger was the best he’d ever eaten. We’ll need to got back again someday to confirm though.
4. East End Adventure – After our delicious lunch at Skinny Legs, Tripp asked the waitress to recommend a nearby beach. She sent us down the windiest, narrowest, hilliest two lane road I’ve ever been on (with a palm tree in the middle no less) to Vie’s snack shop and beach. Along the way we encountered a herd of wild goats and a few wild island donkeys (yes they really do exist), but when we finally got to to Vie’s, it was like being on our own private island.
3. Touring the Baths – On Thursday we booked a group tour of the Baths of Virgin Gorda (BVI) and spent the morning crawling over, under, and around the amazing rock formations.
2. Cocktails at the Soggy Dollar Bar – Swimming from the boat to the bar was easy…it was the swim back to the boat that was a little more difficult. No big shock there I suppose.
1. Spending time together – Yeah I know. That one’s kinda cheesy. But it’s true. I suppose some people might cringe at the thought of travelling with three families, but spending time in a place like St. John with my family, my two best friends and their families – well, it was it’s own kind of paradise.
So that’s a start on documenting our incredible vacation. Now if you’ll you’ll excuse me I’m going to get the clothes out of the dryer.
Right after I apply aloe vera to Kelsey’s shoulders.
Peace Man, Kelly
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