And this is just the first two days! I'm sure I'll wind down after the first week and it will be "got, up, went to the beach, ate dinner, looked for shooting stars, went to bed...").

The cast of characters inludes me, husband Jack, and Bill (smthsaln) and Lyne, for the first part of the trip. Had perfect weather for the entire two weeks, but there were a lot of mosquitos, especially our first week, from all the rain the week before. The Cactus Juice spray (a/k/a Lyne's new cologne) helped some but I had to get some stronger stuff to battle the buggers. Of course I was the decoy target and no one else seemed to get bit much at all. Anyways, here goes!

Day 1 – Saturday, July 24th - “The Holiday Inn”. We decided to do an overnight at a hotel near the airport and Doubletree’s “Fly and Park” seemed like a good deal at around $95 which included parking for a week. Since we were going to be gone 2 weeks, we had Bill and Lyne pick us up at the house (thanks again, Bill!) and headed to the hotel around 5 pm. Drove through a typical Tampa summer rain storm, which had Jack upset because our bags were getting wet in the back of Bill’s pickup. Chill, dude, and go with the flow! It’s an adventure…

We check in and our free (Hilton Honors points) room at the end of a seemingly endless maze of hallways faced the pool, while their room across the hall faced the interstate… In hindsight, they should’ve asked for a better room, as the noise from the highway kept them awake most of the night. I still feel bad about that.

The reason the title of this day is “The Holiday Inn” is because it used to be a Holiday Inn and many years ago, in a previous life when I used to be a “plant lady” I visited this place once a week to take care of the numerous indoor plants all over the hotel. Anyways, we enjoyed some pre-dinner drinks at their little sports bar and then headed over to Seasons 52 for a wonderful dinner. If you have one of these restaurants in your town, I highly recommend it. It is in the restaurant group that includes Longhorn Steakhouse and Capital Grille, among others, and I just love it.

Day 2 – Sunday, July 25th – “We’re Here!”. Up bright and early for the shuttle to the airport, no issues there, and no issues with checking in or security at the airport. I was able to get Bill and Lyne moved up to the bulkhead seats in front of us (love that AA Gold status!) and while we watched the movie (“Old Dogs” with John Travolta and Robin Williams, hilarious) they made friends with the very nice flight attendant lady. The three of them chatted most of the way to San Juan (AND she gave them a bottle of red wine to take with them), until a somewhat scary thing happened. Upon our approach to SJU there was a loud noise not too far behind us and a lady yelled out “it’s breaking apart!!!!”. Oh, god, I’m thinking it’s the wing or something…the really nice flight attendant lady gets a very concerned look on her face and says “call the cockpit!”, which she did. I grab Jack’s hand and look out the window to see that we seem to be landing okay but my heart is racing. Obviously, we did land okay, and we found out later that part of the wall panel broke apart AND the outside panel of the window fell off! Yikes!

Had some lunch and drinks at the Waves Sports Bar in the AA terminal (acceptable, but nothing to write home about, in fact I can’t remember what I had…). No problems with the flight to St. Thomas and taxi ride to the ferry dock. Bill made friends with a nice young woman in the taxi (she lives on Tortola and is an architect – I believe she said she designed the new Commerce House in Road Town and is working on the Virgin Gorda airport). It was Sunday so no Petite Pump Room, so we ended up hanging around at the little bar in the waiting area, chatting more with the architect lady and others. Checked in with Jerry to let him know we were on our way, and of course he was waiting for us with our rental car (the infamous red Jeep Liberty!). Also had our first sighting of the Spanish family, with whom we would cross paths several times in the next 2 days.

Off to Jerry’s where Bill buys us a round of Red Stripes (how convenient is that? and thanks again, Bill!). We pick up a few provisions at Big Ben’s and then head for the villa in Brewer’s Bay. About halfway there I decide to double check for the villa key in my purse. I had already done this at the ferry dock in St. Thomas and thought I had tucked it safely away. So I am pulling everything out of my so-called organizer travel purse and I can’t find it! Semi-panic ensures, but then I realize I have the villa’s cleaning lady’s phone number with me and she agrees to meet us at the villa. While we are waiting for her I empty the contents of the damn purse again, and still no key. I figure it had fallen out or something at the ferry dock – funny thing is I had put it on that floaty BVI VIP Club key chain we got last trip so it would be easy to find. One last check of the now empty purse and lo and behold, the precious key is found in a little hidden space in the purse. I call the cleaning lady and tell her she doesn’t have to come after all, but since she is almost there she stops in anyways to check on things. I feel bad because she doesn’t have a car and had to either hitch a ride or get a ride from a friend. Will have to compensate her with a bigger tip I guess.

Once in the villa we discover that the power (“current”) is out. No biggie, we get the bags in the house (which had gotten even wetter on the Bomba Charger, but still no biggie, dude!), get some beers chillin’ and head down to the beach to check it out. Well, the water was still pretty murky from the recent torrential downpours, but Jack and I go for swim anyways while Bill and Lyne walk the beach. The next morning Bill would notice from looking at the beach from the villa that we picked probably the murkiest part of the beach to go in. It was all gooey on the bottom, like a lake or something.

Still no current back at the villa and we get changed and head down to Cane Garden Bay and the Elm for dinner. No current there either, but they are still in business and we get a table and drinks. Bill and Lyne spy dogs and go for a walk on the beach to meet them all.  They also see the Spanish family again, and I think spoke briefly to them. We are happy to see Malcolm again and exchange kisses and hugs. Then Landcrab comes marching through with his laundry and his entourage…they aren’t staying for dinner that night. I inform him that the current is still off in Brewer’s Bay and he is hopeful that it is on on his side of the bay since they are “on a different grid”. Good luck with that, my friend! Unfortunately, Bill and Lyne miss their opportunity to finally meet Landcrab this trip, maybe next time…

Dinner was delicious, as usual, I just cannot get enough of Tony’s ribs and chicken. And the sautéed cabbage and rice and peas is wonderful too ~ is it just because we are sitting in Cane Garden Bay at sunset on our first day of vacation that makes it so good? I honestly don’t think so!

We really really really want to stay to see if the power comes on and the “no-name band” can play, but it has been a very long day and we head back to the villa. Hang out on the deck for some star gazing and the current finally comes on. Yay, get the fans going ASAP! Notice that it’s still dark over on Landcrab’s side of the bay/grid for quite a while. What a long but wonderful day.

Stay tuned for Part 2, the adventure continues!