St. John Vacay Day 1

Today is August 15, 2013 but I am scheduling Blogger to post this after we get back from our vacation. HELLLOOOOO..who has time for burglaries!! :)

As I write this, I am lying in our living room on a futon in our beautiful Mooncottage Villa in St. John. I am listening to the wind and all the sounds the creatures make at night...crickets, birds, frogs, etc. This cottage is absolutely amazing and I definitely have a new favorite place!!!

Here I am right before leaving for the airport. We left at 3:45 am. I got ONE hour of sleep! I guess I was too excited/worried about what was about to happen or what might happen when I'm gone (I hate worrying). The night before, Lamar and I dropped Reggie and Charlie Bear off with Macy. We met her in Conway at the Marketplace. I wish we could have eaten but we didn't because we couldn't leave the dogs in the car. 

Mar has been so excited about this trip and he actually decided we needed to go. He said he really missed having a vacation with me (we usually go in May) and we needed to plan it! SO, I began searching. I knew his favorite vacation we have ever taken was to St. Thomas and if we ever went again, it would be to St. John. So, I found Mooncottage and let me tell you, it is FABULOUS!

We had no problems at all on our flights. Our planes were on time which was great. We had a one hour layover in Atlanta where we got Lamar a sweatshirt and blanket for the next flight. He froze on the first flight to Atlanta because he was wearing shorts and a shirt and the flight was freezing! Our seats were not by a window for the first time ever and the long flight from Atlanta to St. John got pretty cramped (we were sitting in a 3 seater on each side and were by people). I took some Atarax for motion sickness, though, and slept on and off. The 4 hour flight seemed more like 30 minutes which was fabulous! When we landed, we called our Jeep rental place and then we called Bob, who put Trip in touch with us where he would be ready to meet us at St. John. The Discount Jeep Rental place is where we rented our Jeep and they told us to wait in the median at the airport and they would pick us up so here I am waiting in the median. Landing in St. Thomas was SOOOOOO beautiful!!! You see the gorgeous crystal blue waters and islands and when you are actually landing, all you see is the ocean around you and it feels like you are about to land on water. SO gorgeous!! 

We rented our Jeep and the lady there told me I was divalicious and pretty!! HAAAA!!! That made me feel really good at the age of 42 when I feel all wrinkley. I have never heard the word divalicious before but I love it! Lamar has used it a couple times today! HA! :) She was so sweet to me and made me feel like a million bucks. Here we are on the ferry in our Jeep. It was so weird moving in a car with the car not on. The ferry ride was $30. Yesterday was truly a day of planes, trains, automobiles, and boats!!!

After we got off the ferry in our Jeep, we met Trip, who was super nice. He took us to a nearby grocery store and Lamar and I went shopping for groceries. The groceries on St. John are priced SUPER high! Orange juice (which we didn't buy) is almost $10!!! A lady came up to me in the grocery begging for money for a flower. It was sad.

This was a little store we saw on the way. I like how all the stores have an island feel (of course, we ARE on an island) and how colorful, bright, and cheery they are. 

After the store, Trip took us on the scenic view to Moon Cottage and scenic it was! ABSOLUTELY gorgeous!!! There were so many beautiful beaches along the way. We also saw some chicken and a deer. He pulled over and stopped where we could see Trunk Bay. Here is a picture. It was just gorgeous!!!

After this, we got back on the road and let me tell you, Trip warned us that the drive would be steep, and he wasn't kidding!  We knew that we needed to rent a 4 wheel drive (preferably a Jeep Wrangler) to even rent Mooncottage to make it up the drive and we sure did need that 4 wheel drive. The drive was CRAZY steep with a winding road like I've never seen!!!! Also, you drive on the left side of the road here! It was a good thing I had taken Atarax (which is not only the best thing I've ever had for motion sickness, but it's also an anti-anxiey med)!

After our adventurous drive, we finally made it to Mooncottage, which is VERY secluded and gated. There are NO locks on the doors here and all the windows and sliding doors are screened. There is no air conditioning here and you don't need it. There is a constant breeze. Trip showed us all around. There are 4 showers that are actually from rainwater...2 of the showers are outside and 2 inside. There are a few bugs but no big deal! We have mosquito coils and haven't been bitten once. I was so tired by the time we got here, that I just couldn't wait to sleep! 

I took pictures of our place and sat on the front porch (picture above) and then lied down on the futon and fell asleep for about 3 hours. Mar slept some with me but every now and then I would hear him talking to a bird trying to get the bird to quit chirping so loud. It was funny. The bird would chirp and then Lamar would chirp back. HA! After I woke up, we headed to our bedroom, which is actually not connected to the kitchen/living area, and got ready for bed. We took a quick shower and fell asleep. It's an hour later here and I was in a deep sleep and heard my phone ring and answered it. It was Macy. The call is kind of like a dream but she was saying that Charlie Bear couldn't stay there because he can't make it up the steps and she didn't know what to do. She said she could either commute or her friend, Emily's parents would watch him. I told her I didn't really know what to do but that commuting wouldn't be good because they would be home alone all day. And then we got off the phone and I fell back asleep. I woke up again in the night with Lamar chirping and talking to a bird again! HA! At that point I asked him to please stop talking to the birds because it was waking me up. HA! He told me he thought the birds were already waking me up. Nope, they weren't but him acting like a bird sure was! :) Now I'm going to write a different post on today...day 2.