3:30 - Wake up: leave for airport 35 minutes later. Note to self: Upon arrival at airport, DO NOT use curbside check-in. See post from Washington, DC. 4E is where we parked-- mental note.
5:39 - Boarded plane. Yay!!! Missing David Scott. Hopefully he's still asleep right now.
5:48 - After not seeing him since Father's Day due to a business trip to Vegas (yeah...), Scotty is having DS withdrawals. He just got done looking through my pics of the Little Mister.
11:41 - Boarding plane for St. Thomas. Woohoo!! Glad DS had a good night and has a busy day planned with Mimi and Mamaw.
4:13 - Finally made it. Currently in taxi on our way to the Ritz. We will be cutting it close as we're still prob 25 minutes away and the group is leaving the hotel at 5:15. This delay won't in any way be caused from the fact that I may puke due to the winding road we're on and once again being driven by an octogenarian (again, see post on DC).
11:45- We made it to the rehearsal dinner on time. The food was great as was the company. We even got to sit at the head table with Tyler and Karla, their parents, and a few others. Scotty gave a funny, yet heartfelt toast to his good friend, and after all the toasts, we headed back to the resort. We gathered for one last drink before calling it a night. Did I mention this place is the bomb??? It is so beautiful and gorgeous, we might just send for DS and move here. Not really, but I think we are thoroughly going to enjoy our stay.
The Ritz: The pool...the beach...the ocean...and St. John in the background.
Friday, June 25...Wedding Day...
8:43 - After a glorious night's sleep, we are both awake and I am eating cookies for breakfast. Oh chocolate chip cookies, how I've missed you!
2:08 - Earlier, we went to lay by the ocean. Beautiful views! After having a $70 (!!!) meal of a chicken panini, chicken Caesar salad, and chips and salsa, we went to lay by the pool where it quickly started drizzling. We came back to our room, then went to the little gift shop here, then back to the pool, only to have it start drizzling more. Presently, we are sitting on our patio, still watching the rain fall. Good thing we're going to be here for several more days. Or maybe not, when lunch for the two of us is more than I spend on two weeks' of lunches back in BR. I half-jokingly told Scotty we should get a loaf of bread and eat our own sandwiches in our room. :)
4:30 - Got mani, got ready, and then found out the ceremony has been pushed back 30 minutes and the location has changed due to the inclement weather we're having. Apparently, we are experiencing the outer bands of a tropical depression. Lovely.
6:25 - Beautiful ceremony. Favorite part was when one of Karla's friend's phone started ringing some rap song ringtone. Currently waiting for reception to begin.
The Rainwaters
9:03 - Lost it when Karla and her dad started dancing to Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up." Everybody was boo-hooing. Even Scotty and Matt were teary-eyed.
10:00 - Requested "Ice Ice Baby." Scotty and Tyler break out their best junior high dance moves. Everyone was impressed with the skills of these two white boys. Party officially begins.
11:00 Danced with Mr. JW. Spinning around on the dance floor, I realized 3 cosmos was 2 too many. That could be problematic later on. Mrs. Suzanne sees me afterwards and offers me pepto. It was stupid of me to decline. We headed back to our room shortly thereafter where I apparently texted Boo to let her know I was "complegely wasted." New word. Excellent.
Saturday, June 26...St. Thomas...
5:15 - I am awake. Not a good thing. Feeling the pain from my prior night of fun. So is Scotty. I guess we are not renting a boat today. Probably a good thing.
Wearing my shades...in bed...
8:15 - I drifted in an out of sleep for a couple hours following my initial awakening. A shower makes me feel better.
9:30 - Laying out down by the water. Despite the weather forecasting to be scattered showers for the next week, it is a b-e-a-utiful day. Now Tropical Storm Alex has moved and is predicted to hit Mexico/Texas. Good news for us. In desparate need of a Coke rather than this $7 Gatorade.
2:11 - Ate lunch at the Ritz again-- only $50 this time. Currently at Magen's Bay with "our" group -- mostly sisters and friends of the bride, and then Matt, Scotty Mercer, my Scotty, and me. It's just as gorgeous as before but with less people due to the cruise ships not being in port. Bonus! Feeling better than we did this morning. We'll feel even better tomorrow.
4:15 - Well, for the last two hours, we've been crawling around on our hands and knees combing the sand for lost treasure. What kind of treasure? That would be my wedding ring!!! I was flicking a bee off my swimsuit when my ring flew off my hand. I did my best to remain calm, cool, and collected, reminding myself that it was just a "thing" and could be replaced. There were probably 8 or 10 of us looking and finally, after 30 minutes of raking the area, we inquired about a metal detector. Initially, we were told that they weren't allowed on the beach. Um...excuse me? I was NOT leaving my post without my ring. Period. Fortunately for me, a local woman was helping in the search and she knew the people working the beach and so she was able to pull strings and get a guy to come out with one. But, no one knew when he would be able to come as only a message was left earlier. The puke feeling was setting in. Then it started to rain. Great. Our day was getting better and better. Finally, about and hour and 45 minutes after I lost my ring, we spoke to the metal detector guy, Diver Paul. He would be 20 minutes. I reenacted the "flick" and he determined the general area, and after a false alarm (a penny), Diver Paul saved the day! My ring was about 3" into the sand on the edge of the area we'd been sifting for the last nearly 2 hours. I was some kind of relieved! It cost us over $200 to find it when you combine Diver Paul's fee and the cost of the beach toys Scotty bought so we could dig and sift. Congratulations, DS, you have some expensive, new beach toys and Daddy doesn't get to hold it over Mama's head that she really lost her weding ring.
Diver Paul, me, Scotty - Treasure Island...
10:30 - Our "7" minute cab ride to the Italian restaurant somehow turned into 20 minutes. Romano's, owned/run by the famous Tony Romano, was pretty good. It was more expensive than we were expecting, and once again I had to discreetly google a few items, but we had fun. I am now in the bed b/c we are catching the ferry over to Virgin Gorda in the BVI's tomorrow. We are going to see The Baths at Virgin Gorda.
Sunday, June 27...Virgin Gorda...
7:45 - Arrive at ferry station to catch 8:00 boat for Virgin Gorda. We are told it is not coming until 8:30. Yipee. An extra 30 minutes in the un-air conditioned holding area. Lovely.
10:00 - Boat arrived on time, and after a side trip to pick up passengers in St. John, we arrived in Virgin Gorda. We had to go through customs and there was a large group behind us who were also heading to The Baths who we were told we would have to wait on. Fortunately, Scotty was not afraid to ask if a smaller taxi could go ahead and take us to our destination and we got there 20 minutes later without waiting on the large group.
The ginormous rocks that are The Baths at Virgin Gorda...
10:37 - Eating a fudgecicle and Scotty is having an ice cream sandwich before we get started. We're renting a locker "$2.50- one-time use" for our stuff since climbing through small holes and wading through pools of water isn't really conducive to carrying a large bag. We've decided that, among other things, we'll bring a backpack next trip.
12:30 - Eating lunch at the restaurant at the top of The Baths. Great view, good food. The Baths were really cool. It was more of a workout than either of us anticipated. The water at Devil's Bay -- at the end of The Baths -- was pretty. Good call forgetting the snorkeling gear, Sarah. After we finish eating, we are going to go back through everything.
View from the restaurant atop The Baths...
3:38 - Leaving Virgin Gorda on the ferry. Good thing we went back through as we'd apparently missed out on some of the pools/water in The Baths. It was so nice. If we ever come back, we'd love to spend more than a few hours at this place.
Beautiful Caribbean waters...
6:45 - After we got back to the hotel, we went to the pool which overlooks the ocean. This place is so gorgeous. The views are breathtaking and the water is such a beatiful azure color. We are about to go eat at the restaurant of the resort next door.
9:27 - Returned from Robert's American Bar and Grill. Scotty's was gross. Mine was not bad...ready for consistently good food again, though. We think we may watch a movie in our room. Nevermind. Not for $17 we aren't. We have missed David Scott the most today.
Monday, June 28...St. Thomas...
10:00 - We are currently sitting on the beach at Coki Bay. It is also pretty with good snorkeling...apparently -- we wouldn't know about that last part, though. This beach appears to be in the middle of the ghetto, which shouldn't come as a surprise since that seems to be the case with many places here. Sipping on our frozen drinks since it's a thousand degrees, we probably won't last too long here today. We're thinking of going into town to shop a bit this afternoon and then hitting St. John tomorrow. Scotty tells me I look like a lobster.
Coki Bay...ghetto-fabulous
12:05-Left Coki and are now sitting at The Greenhouse -a restaurant located downtown...trying to decide what to do next..
3:15 - After we shopped downtown, we returned to the hotel where Scotty relaxed on the beach and I did arts and crafts. By the pool and ocean, there's a little cabana where you can do sand art. I made us a stepping stone.
6:34 - Getting ready to go eat in one of the resort restaurants.
8:55 - Going back to room. I enjoyed my sushi, rice, and seaweed salad; Scotty had pepperoni pizza...shocker. We have an early wake up call tomorrow as we're taking the ferry over to St. John to hang out at Trunk Bay and possibly one more beach area.
Tuesday, June 29...St. John
6:55 - Scotty wakes me up so we can catch the 7:30 ferry to beat the crowds.
8:05 - We arrive at Trunk Bay. We're early alright -- only 5 or 6 people are here besides us. The beach shop, snack bar, chair rentals, etc. don't open for another hour. We are presently sitting on a beach towel looking at this:
Overhead view of Trunk Bay
8:30 - I hope Scotty doesn't catch encephalitis from all these mosquitoes. Usually I'm the one that's their meal, but somehow, this time I'm not...knock on wood.
9:00 - We bought mosquito repellant at the little beach store. Neither of us has been bitten since. I think Scotty topped out at 10 bites and I only had a couple. We also rented snorkeling gear since I forgot to pack ours as Scotty keeps reminding me.
A few of the mosquito bites Scotty obtained while at Trunk Bay...
11:15 - Eating lunch at the snack bar here at Trunk Bay. Thought about eating it at a picnic table overlooking the bay. Decided against it when I was nearly attacked by a flock of seagulls.
12:44 - Finished my book and decided to go snorkeling with Scotty.
1:47 - Snorkeling was fun. We saw a bunch of coral and fish -- even a baracuda! Currently, we are riding in an open-air taxi driven by "Puff Daddy" heading back to downtown St. John. It's been a very relaxing day so far. St. John's beaches are gorgeous and the water appears to get even more beautiful when the sun shines brightly overhead.
Scotty striking a pose at Trunk Bay...
5:37 - There wasn't too much shopping to be done in downtown St. John, so we caught the 3:00 ferry back to our island. We've been sitting on the beach at the Ritz ever since. We are SO READY to love on David Scott tomorrow. It's been simultaneously both a long and short week. We have reservations at the nicest restaurant at the resort tonight. I am looking forward to a fabulous meal -- with another great dessert -- and a good night's sleep so we can wake up bright and early tomorrow. Our flight to Miami is at 8:15, but We have to be out front at 6. Puke.
Last night in St. Thomas, before dining out...
9:30 - Well, we just returned from the restaurant. It's never a good sign when you see only one thing you'll eat on the menu--and even that has to be doctored up in some way. And to top it off, you pay an arm and a leg for this meal. Blech!
Wednesday, June 30...Waiting...
5:39 - Waiting for the bellman to come get our bags while Scotty takes care of our bill. I am so tired but SO EXCITED to see our little DS in about 12 hours!!!
6:55 - Waiting on Scotty who has been randomly selected to be searched.
Random Selection...
9:09 - We've been in the air for about 45 minutes. I'm not sure what's worse the poor, screaming baby several rows up or the loud guy snoring across the aisle from me. I think it's the latter as the baby only wailed for about 20 minutes. Get this guy a breathe-right strip, stat.
10:36- Rip Van Winkle is awake! No more snoring for the descent!
1:49 - We are at Chili's for lunch. Tried something new and didn't like it -- the buffalo chicken salad. Scotty also tried something new, the jalepeno burger, he didn't dislike it, so that's good. :) We are currently waiting in our waiting area. Only 2 more hours...
2:54 - Finished book #2. I hate sitting in airports.
2:59 - We are currently being shot at by a kid playing "Star Wars" nearby. Apparently we're carrying missile blowers that he needs to destroy. Good imagination, kid.
3:34 - No, guy sitting beside me in the airport, your weird mouth noises are not bothering me. Not at all. And yay, our flight's been pushed back 20 minutes. Hooray. Thank you late flight attendant who is apparently responsible for this delay.
4:00 - Boarding plane. Yay!
4:25 - Deplaning due to some problem needing to be fixed with everyone off the plane. It could be an hour and a half before we can get back on IF they're able to fix the problem. If not, they said we could catch the 11:00 flight to NO. I want to cry.
5:30 - Reboarding plane. Crossing fingers and saying a special prayer for safe travels...even more so than I usually do.
6:55 (central) - I have never been so happy to be in New Orleans in my life!!! Scotty is getting our 4Runner and I'm collecting the baggage.
8:15 - After a quick stop for gas and Mickey D's, we're now about 10 minutes from home. The excitement of seeing David Scott is taking us both over.
Boo was holding DS and waiting for us in the driveway when we got home. He looked at us both for a couple of minutes, reaching his hand out to touch our faces and such. It was almost as if he was thinking, "Is this real? Are Mama and Daddy really back?!?" It was such a sweet moment. We had a great time in St. Thomas and are so grateful that our families were able to keep David Scott for us while we were there. I know that DS did a lot og "going" while he was in North LA. I guess I'll have to request for them to keep a log of DS' travels next time.
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