The 40-year old pitcher who blew the game, Tom Gordon, is seen below circa 1988. Yes, it's his 20th season pitching in the major leagues. According to baseballreference.com, he's made more than $50 million in his career. Good work if you can get it.
31 March 2008
It's baseball season!
The Phillies lost in pathetic fashion today, but it's still great to have baseball back.
The 40-year old pitcher who blew the game, Tom Gordon, is seen below circa 1988. Yes, it's his 20th season pitching in the major leagues. According to baseballreference.com, he's made more than $50 million in his career. Good work if you can get it.
The 40-year old pitcher who blew the game, Tom Gordon, is seen below circa 1988. Yes, it's his 20th season pitching in the major leagues. According to baseballreference.com, he's made more than $50 million in his career. Good work if you can get it.
26 March 2008
Beautiful Birthday flowers
Duane is so thoughtful...he got flowers delivered to my work for my birthday! Only problem was that I wasn't in work on my birthday! That's OK, I loved enjoying them when I returned from a fun day off. Aren't they gorgeous?
The traffic nightmare has begun
We live on Phoenixville's North side. There are 2 main ways to get downtown and to many of the roads we regularly take - the high bridge and the low bridge. The high bridge is a main route for traffic, especially emergency vehicles since there is low clearance on the the "Low bridge" route. This "High bridge" is in desperate need of repair. When I drive across it I look in my rear view mirror and imagine it crumbling behind me, Indiana Jones style. Before they can tear it down (or it falls down itself!) they need to raise a railroad bridge. And so begins our traffic nightmare. All of Phoenixville's through traffic squeezing through one road is going to mean a long, long year and a half (or longer) reconstruction. Please hurry PennDOT, Please!
Said "Low clearance" area
Does this look like a safe way to raise a railroad bridge to you? I hope someone knows what they're doing!
Said "High" bridge
A little bit scary to be underneath of...
All the beautiful murals that will be forever gone...
Said "Low clearance" areaDoes this look like a safe way to raise a railroad bridge to you? I hope someone knows what they're doing!Said "High" bridgeA little bit scary to be underneath of...All the beautiful murals that will be forever gone...25 March 2008
16 March 2008
Anniversary Trip - Part 3
Continued from previous 2 posts....the final installment of our trip commentary...
Day 7 - Friday
We got up on Friday with the intentions of watching the sun rise but it turned out to be a rainy morning :( We went back to bed and after breakfast called for a Taxi to take us on an island tour. The weather started out a little gloomy but as always cleared up pretty fast, it kind of sucked though that we were following the storm as it crossed the island.
Caesar was our driver. He was a quiet old man but insisted on several "photo opportunities". He'd stop or slow down in certain areas and I'd snap a photo out the window. Most of those didn't make it into the slideshow b/c he and I had a different idea on what was a good photo opportunity. The island has a road that follows the rim of the main part of the island. There is also a road that goes out on the peninsula towards Nevis but we only went a small way down that on to one of the best look out areas on the island. We started in downtown Basseterre then headed North towards the Fortress. He seemed a little disappointed that we'd already been to the capital city and the fortress, I think b/c these are good attractions for him to talk about. We hadn't been to Romney Manor and the Caribelle Batik factory so he was excited to show us them.
We started off up the rural road and stopped at some petroglyphs. We got out and a local guy wanting to sell jewelry and pictures with a baby monkey immediately moved in. We got a few pictures and I had to hold the baby. He was so calm and sweet but a little stinky. I couldn't wait to wash my hands after that encounter.
The next stop was an old sugar mill. The stonework looked so cool in the green of the rainforest area. There were a few goats having a bite to eat in one of the buildings.
We next moved through the rainforest toward the Batik factory. It housed some of the most colorful buildings and gardens we'd see on the island. We browsed the store and watched as one woman made a batik. It's done with dyes and wax mainly but quite a long process. The store was so colorful with all the different forms of batiks from clothing to wall hangings to purses.
We next explored the gardens on site. It was such a gorgeous location - up on the sides of the volcano with a distant view of the Caribbean. Here's a cool view of Brimstone Hill from Romney Manor:
From Romney Manor we continued our tour around the island. We went through all sorts of small villages. Sandy cove was one where Caesar was especially popular. He honked and waved at almost every person either on a porch, on the road, in a building, you name it. We heard lots of "Hey Caesar!" coming from the buildings as we passed through. Close to this village is an area of hot springs where the water is heated by the volcano. It smells of sulfur and Caesar told us "One time I had to run for my life because the water was so hot!" I didn't get any pictures but it was a cool area of the island.
At the Northern most tip of the island road we stopped to view St. Eustatious. It looked mystical, covered in rain and fog:
As we rounded the Northern tip of the island and the winds picked up we saw a few more beautiful bays and what seemed to be the quieter side of the island. At Black Rocks, an area where the black volcanic rock meets the ocean, we encountered a little baby donkey. As we approached him (her?) he showed his playful side by pretending to charge and sweet side by rubbing up against us like a cat. We'll never forget the playful run he did when we pulled away - who knew a donkey could be so fast - he looked like a race horse, ears back and down, racing back towards his grazing parents.
The last stop we made on the island tour was from an amazing overlook. Going down the road that takes you to the end of the peninsula, there is a location where looking one way you can see both the Atlantic and Caribbean and then when you turn around you view the beautiful Frigate Bay area (Picutres are in the previous post). What a cool spot!
We only owed Caesar $80 plus tip for the amazing tour. It was great to see some of the natural and real areas of the island.
That night we walked to dinner at Rock Lobster, a restaurant on the way to the Shiggidy Shack. We both had surf and turf and it was by far the best meal we had on the island. I finished up with a piece of coconut cake and we headed to the Shiggidy shack for one last night. They had a band playing and the singer was awesome! I wanted to bring him back to the US he was so good!
Day 8 - Saturday
We got up late on Saturday, had some breakfast, requested later check out and sat by the pool for a while. After showering and packing up we walked down to the Monkey bar for one last lunch on the island. On our way down we had a taxi pull over to talk to us - It was Caesar asking if we needed a ride to the airport later that day! What a great guy! He said he'd be there at 3 to pick us up. Lunch was good but they still hadn't gotten the blender fixed so we had to settle for mixed drinks instead of the frozen variety. On our way back we ran into Caesar again, this time he stopped to tell us that he was taking some people on a tour and wouldn't make it back by 3 so he asked a lady taxi driver to pick us up instead! We got our luggage at 3 and made our way to the airport. The lady who Caesar asked to pick us up got herded along by the bellboys and took another couple but did give us a wave like she was apologizing.
We checked in, paid our departure taxes, went through security and sat in the waiting area until our flight. We were obviously the last flight out and this became apparent to us as all the stores and employees left as they started boarding our flight.
We boarded on time for a 5:20 departure to Charlotte, got situated and I started to fall asleep. I woke up to hear the pilot telling us they were "still finishing up some paperwork" and we'd be on our way shortly. What seemed like an hour later the came back on to tell us "some bad news folks, during our walk of the aircraft we discovered a small 1x4 inch access panel on the right wing missing." They'd probably lost it during the take off or landing previously but they didn't have a procedure to fly with it missing. They'd check into options and get back to us. Shortly after that they came on to tell us that they were going to look for some "speed tape." We were told this is silver tape used in the industry (sounds like duct tape to me?) but that since we were not at a maintenance type airport they weren't sure if they'd find it. In the meantime, the pilot was calling AirBus in Europe to find out about a procedure. Apparently the FAA approved us flying with the hole covered in tape but warned that the airline could be fined for flying without a procedure. As we expected, speed tape wasn't found and AirBus said NO to flying with tape covering the hole on the wing anyway. Flight cancelled, everyone off. The crew unfortunately had to fly back to Charlotte with a hole in the wing. I guess they made it b/c I"m sure we would have heard otherwise.
Then the real fun began. We had to gather our things and get rebooked. As Duane waited for the luggage, I made my way to the ticketing counter. We had to wait for a ticketing agent to come back into work, and the poor girl ended up having to do a lot of work. As time went on and our fate became more uncertain, people lost all manners. Cutting to the front of the line to "try to hear what was going on". We found out there was only room on the island for 40 people to stay and that they were going to have to shuttle the rest of the people to St. Maarten to stay overnight and fly out of there. Even if we'd stayed on St. Kitts, there were no more US Air flights out until NEXT Saturday so we'd have to go to St. Maarten anyway.
Duane and I were #38 and #39 on the first flight to St. Maarten. We were rushed through security again and herded onto the small prop plane brought in especially for us. The flight attendant was so cute, going through his normal safety and plane procedures over the intercom while all the frustrated passengers griped and moaned. The best part was when he came over the intercom and said "I am now going to spray a non-toxic spray throughout the cabin. If you have sensitive eyes or wear contacts you may want to close your eyes until I'm through." I guess it was for any bugs that St. Maarten doesn't want?
We got to St. Maarten after a short 17 minute flight. We then waited for what seemed like an hour for our luggage then moved as a herd outside to the awaiting bus. Again the manners were lost and people acted like the buses were leaving without them. After a short drive we arrived at the Sonesta Maho hotel in downtown St. Maarten. It looked like Vegas compared to what we came from!
AGAIN, we were pushed to the back of the line for check-in, these people were unbelievable I tell you! The check-in process went smoothly, they gave us a room and a card to get dinner and breakfast. It was past 10 PM by this point so we were pretty hungry.
Our room was less than desirable, despite how it looks on the website. While opening our door, two of the couples we travelled with had issues - one had no lightbulbs, sheets, etc in their room, the other had opened their door to find their Second dirty room! I think they stuck us on the "low rent" floor. WE did have a balcony on our room which seemed nice until we saw what it looked at - the trash heap for the hotel and the water treatment plant! No kidding - here's a photo taken in the morning, after the trash was removed!
At this point, we could only laugh. We went to get dinner at the buffet. After dinner we went back to bed although I hardly slept because I was nervous we'd miss the bus to the airport. We were told to be in the lobby at 9:30 AM. We ended up getting through to US Air and finding out our flight wasn't until 5:20 PM so we didn't go over that early. We did end up going over to the airport via taxi around 11 AM to find out it was good we came early. We had to stand in one line to get ticketed then another line to pay another departure tax. Again, the people in front of us, being very important, had no manners and gave the poor people working there an earful.
Thankfully the airport had more amenities than the airport in St. Kitts so we passed the time eating lunch, looking around and observing the largely French population (St. Maarten is half Dutch and half French rule). We left on time from St. Maarten for Charlotte. In Charlotte we had to get our luggage and go through customs then board our flight for Philadelphia. We got into Philly and parked at the absolute furthest gate in the A terminal. After a 20 minute, you'd think our luggage would be waiting for us but we ended up waiting about 30 minutes for it. We got to our car and got home around 2 AM. I took a personal day on Monday and Duane went in late.
Even though you'd think an extra day in the Caribbean would be great, it isn't when you can't enjoy it and just want to be home. We were so thankful for a great trip, even with the black eye it got at the end :)
Day 7 - Friday
We got up on Friday with the intentions of watching the sun rise but it turned out to be a rainy morning :( We went back to bed and after breakfast called for a Taxi to take us on an island tour. The weather started out a little gloomy but as always cleared up pretty fast, it kind of sucked though that we were following the storm as it crossed the island.
Caesar was our driver. He was a quiet old man but insisted on several "photo opportunities". He'd stop or slow down in certain areas and I'd snap a photo out the window. Most of those didn't make it into the slideshow b/c he and I had a different idea on what was a good photo opportunity. The island has a road that follows the rim of the main part of the island. There is also a road that goes out on the peninsula towards Nevis but we only went a small way down that on to one of the best look out areas on the island. We started in downtown Basseterre then headed North towards the Fortress. He seemed a little disappointed that we'd already been to the capital city and the fortress, I think b/c these are good attractions for him to talk about. We hadn't been to Romney Manor and the Caribelle Batik factory so he was excited to show us them.
We started off up the rural road and stopped at some petroglyphs. We got out and a local guy wanting to sell jewelry and pictures with a baby monkey immediately moved in. We got a few pictures and I had to hold the baby. He was so calm and sweet but a little stinky. I couldn't wait to wash my hands after that encounter.
The next stop was an old sugar mill. The stonework looked so cool in the green of the rainforest area. There were a few goats having a bite to eat in one of the buildings.
We next moved through the rainforest toward the Batik factory. It housed some of the most colorful buildings and gardens we'd see on the island. We browsed the store and watched as one woman made a batik. It's done with dyes and wax mainly but quite a long process. The store was so colorful with all the different forms of batiks from clothing to wall hangings to purses.We next explored the gardens on site. It was such a gorgeous location - up on the sides of the volcano with a distant view of the Caribbean. Here's a cool view of Brimstone Hill from Romney Manor:From Romney Manor we continued our tour around the island. We went through all sorts of small villages. Sandy cove was one where Caesar was especially popular. He honked and waved at almost every person either on a porch, on the road, in a building, you name it. We heard lots of "Hey Caesar!" coming from the buildings as we passed through. Close to this village is an area of hot springs where the water is heated by the volcano. It smells of sulfur and Caesar told us "One time I had to run for my life because the water was so hot!" I didn't get any pictures but it was a cool area of the island.At the Northern most tip of the island road we stopped to view St. Eustatious. It looked mystical, covered in rain and fog:
As we rounded the Northern tip of the island and the winds picked up we saw a few more beautiful bays and what seemed to be the quieter side of the island. At Black Rocks, an area where the black volcanic rock meets the ocean, we encountered a little baby donkey. As we approached him (her?) he showed his playful side by pretending to charge and sweet side by rubbing up against us like a cat. We'll never forget the playful run he did when we pulled away - who knew a donkey could be so fast - he looked like a race horse, ears back and down, racing back towards his grazing parents.
The last stop we made on the island tour was from an amazing overlook. Going down the road that takes you to the end of the peninsula, there is a location where looking one way you can see both the Atlantic and Caribbean and then when you turn around you view the beautiful Frigate Bay area (Picutres are in the previous post). What a cool spot!We only owed Caesar $80 plus tip for the amazing tour. It was great to see some of the natural and real areas of the island.
That night we walked to dinner at Rock Lobster, a restaurant on the way to the Shiggidy Shack. We both had surf and turf and it was by far the best meal we had on the island. I finished up with a piece of coconut cake and we headed to the Shiggidy shack for one last night. They had a band playing and the singer was awesome! I wanted to bring him back to the US he was so good!
Day 8 - Saturday
We got up late on Saturday, had some breakfast, requested later check out and sat by the pool for a while. After showering and packing up we walked down to the Monkey bar for one last lunch on the island. On our way down we had a taxi pull over to talk to us - It was Caesar asking if we needed a ride to the airport later that day! What a great guy! He said he'd be there at 3 to pick us up. Lunch was good but they still hadn't gotten the blender fixed so we had to settle for mixed drinks instead of the frozen variety. On our way back we ran into Caesar again, this time he stopped to tell us that he was taking some people on a tour and wouldn't make it back by 3 so he asked a lady taxi driver to pick us up instead! We got our luggage at 3 and made our way to the airport. The lady who Caesar asked to pick us up got herded along by the bellboys and took another couple but did give us a wave like she was apologizing.
We checked in, paid our departure taxes, went through security and sat in the waiting area until our flight. We were obviously the last flight out and this became apparent to us as all the stores and employees left as they started boarding our flight.
We boarded on time for a 5:20 departure to Charlotte, got situated and I started to fall asleep. I woke up to hear the pilot telling us they were "still finishing up some paperwork" and we'd be on our way shortly. What seemed like an hour later the came back on to tell us "some bad news folks, during our walk of the aircraft we discovered a small 1x4 inch access panel on the right wing missing." They'd probably lost it during the take off or landing previously but they didn't have a procedure to fly with it missing. They'd check into options and get back to us. Shortly after that they came on to tell us that they were going to look for some "speed tape." We were told this is silver tape used in the industry (sounds like duct tape to me?) but that since we were not at a maintenance type airport they weren't sure if they'd find it. In the meantime, the pilot was calling AirBus in Europe to find out about a procedure. Apparently the FAA approved us flying with the hole covered in tape but warned that the airline could be fined for flying without a procedure. As we expected, speed tape wasn't found and AirBus said NO to flying with tape covering the hole on the wing anyway. Flight cancelled, everyone off. The crew unfortunately had to fly back to Charlotte with a hole in the wing. I guess they made it b/c I"m sure we would have heard otherwise.
Then the real fun began. We had to gather our things and get rebooked. As Duane waited for the luggage, I made my way to the ticketing counter. We had to wait for a ticketing agent to come back into work, and the poor girl ended up having to do a lot of work. As time went on and our fate became more uncertain, people lost all manners. Cutting to the front of the line to "try to hear what was going on". We found out there was only room on the island for 40 people to stay and that they were going to have to shuttle the rest of the people to St. Maarten to stay overnight and fly out of there. Even if we'd stayed on St. Kitts, there were no more US Air flights out until NEXT Saturday so we'd have to go to St. Maarten anyway.
Duane and I were #38 and #39 on the first flight to St. Maarten. We were rushed through security again and herded onto the small prop plane brought in especially for us. The flight attendant was so cute, going through his normal safety and plane procedures over the intercom while all the frustrated passengers griped and moaned. The best part was when he came over the intercom and said "I am now going to spray a non-toxic spray throughout the cabin. If you have sensitive eyes or wear contacts you may want to close your eyes until I'm through." I guess it was for any bugs that St. Maarten doesn't want?
We got to St. Maarten after a short 17 minute flight. We then waited for what seemed like an hour for our luggage then moved as a herd outside to the awaiting bus. Again the manners were lost and people acted like the buses were leaving without them. After a short drive we arrived at the Sonesta Maho hotel in downtown St. Maarten. It looked like Vegas compared to what we came from!
AGAIN, we were pushed to the back of the line for check-in, these people were unbelievable I tell you! The check-in process went smoothly, they gave us a room and a card to get dinner and breakfast. It was past 10 PM by this point so we were pretty hungry.Our room was less than desirable, despite how it looks on the website. While opening our door, two of the couples we travelled with had issues - one had no lightbulbs, sheets, etc in their room, the other had opened their door to find their Second dirty room! I think they stuck us on the "low rent" floor. WE did have a balcony on our room which seemed nice until we saw what it looked at - the trash heap for the hotel and the water treatment plant! No kidding - here's a photo taken in the morning, after the trash was removed!
At this point, we could only laugh. We went to get dinner at the buffet. After dinner we went back to bed although I hardly slept because I was nervous we'd miss the bus to the airport. We were told to be in the lobby at 9:30 AM. We ended up getting through to US Air and finding out our flight wasn't until 5:20 PM so we didn't go over that early. We did end up going over to the airport via taxi around 11 AM to find out it was good we came early. We had to stand in one line to get ticketed then another line to pay another departure tax. Again, the people in front of us, being very important, had no manners and gave the poor people working there an earful.Thankfully the airport had more amenities than the airport in St. Kitts so we passed the time eating lunch, looking around and observing the largely French population (St. Maarten is half Dutch and half French rule). We left on time from St. Maarten for Charlotte. In Charlotte we had to get our luggage and go through customs then board our flight for Philadelphia. We got into Philly and parked at the absolute furthest gate in the A terminal. After a 20 minute, you'd think our luggage would be waiting for us but we ended up waiting about 30 minutes for it. We got to our car and got home around 2 AM. I took a personal day on Monday and Duane went in late.
Even though you'd think an extra day in the Caribbean would be great, it isn't when you can't enjoy it and just want to be home. We were so thankful for a great trip, even with the black eye it got at the end :)
11 March 2008
Photo links
Even though I'm not done my commentary on the trip (and the exciting part is still to come!) here are the links to the photos. The first is the set with mostly scenery, taken mostly through my fancy rental lens. The second set are more of the snapshots from the trip. I'm using a new photo hosting service and the files are pretty big so you may have to be patient while they load. You should click on "View slideshow' to really enjoy them (and make sure to read the captions, I spent a long time on them)!
St. Kitts Photo Set #1
St. Kitts Photo Set #2
Here are a few favorites:
St. Kitts Photo Set #1
St. Kitts Photo Set #2
Here are a few favorites:
09 March 2008
Anniversary trip - Part 2
Continued from previous post...
Day 6 - Thursday
We started the day out as usual with breakfast at Marriott's Calypso cafe. I commented on a guy that walked through because he looked like he could be Duane's twin, little did we know we'd end up hanging out with him later on...
We spent the day by the pool. We went back earlier than usual to get ready for dinner at the Shiggity Shack since it was bonfire night. I was excited to get there early enough to finally get my lobster dinner. We had a few drinks at the bar and grabbed a table pretty quickly. The place was packed! When we ordered the waitress thought they may be out of lobsters, I was disappointed, it was only about 7 PM! Turns out they went out and got more so I did finally get my lobster, just had to wait a little longer for it. It was delicious. Duane had his usual chicken burger and was elated with it.
During dinner the band started up. The singer was a synthesizer master. Then the bonfire started up. It was a huge pit with wooden pallets burning in it, so it was a pretty big fire right next to the Shiggity Shack and it's thatched roof. Maybe not the best idea but it was cool nonetheless. The next attraction was "Fire Man" - a guy in tight pants that ate fire and rubbed it all over his body. While he was dancing around the restaurant, the band played the same tune OVER and OVER. We can still sing it..."I just can't under-stand...Amazing Fire man. Fi-re! Fi-re!"
After a bunch more drinks we decided to move down to the Monkey bar because I was craving a BBC. All the action was at the Shiggity shack so we sat right down and ordered drinks. The blender ended up breaking so I couldn't have my BBC and while kidding with the bartender about it we got introduced to a few other couples. One of them was Duane's twin! His name was Blake and he and his wife and her friends were on a work trip from North Carolina. We ended up having a ton more drinks and hanging out with them the rest of the night. We moved down the beach to Ziggy's which was much more of a local bar. The wife of Duane's twin insisted on doing Karaoke to Tu-pacs California love. She froze when she got up there, it was pretty funny. The DJ was not amused. We all shared a taxi back to the Marriott then hung out for a little while in the casino. It was a fun night!
Day 6 - Thursday
We started the day out as usual with breakfast at Marriott's Calypso cafe. I commented on a guy that walked through because he looked like he could be Duane's twin, little did we know we'd end up hanging out with him later on...
We spent the day by the pool. We went back earlier than usual to get ready for dinner at the Shiggity Shack since it was bonfire night. I was excited to get there early enough to finally get my lobster dinner. We had a few drinks at the bar and grabbed a table pretty quickly. The place was packed! When we ordered the waitress thought they may be out of lobsters, I was disappointed, it was only about 7 PM! Turns out they went out and got more so I did finally get my lobster, just had to wait a little longer for it. It was delicious. Duane had his usual chicken burger and was elated with it.
During dinner the band started up. The singer was a synthesizer master. Then the bonfire started up. It was a huge pit with wooden pallets burning in it, so it was a pretty big fire right next to the Shiggity Shack and it's thatched roof. Maybe not the best idea but it was cool nonetheless. The next attraction was "Fire Man" - a guy in tight pants that ate fire and rubbed it all over his body. While he was dancing around the restaurant, the band played the same tune OVER and OVER. We can still sing it..."I just can't under-stand...Amazing Fire man. Fi-re! Fi-re!"
After a bunch more drinks we decided to move down to the Monkey bar because I was craving a BBC. All the action was at the Shiggity shack so we sat right down and ordered drinks. The blender ended up breaking so I couldn't have my BBC and while kidding with the bartender about it we got introduced to a few other couples. One of them was Duane's twin! His name was Blake and he and his wife and her friends were on a work trip from North Carolina. We ended up having a ton more drinks and hanging out with them the rest of the night. We moved down the beach to Ziggy's which was much more of a local bar. The wife of Duane's twin insisted on doing Karaoke to Tu-pacs California love. She froze when she got up there, it was pretty funny. The DJ was not amused. We all shared a taxi back to the Marriott then hung out for a little while in the casino. It was a fun night!
05 March 2008
My wife, the Beastmaster
Kim is Dr. Doolittle. She communicates with the animals. Here she is befriending a baby donkey (seriously, how awesome is a baby donkey?) in Saint Kitts. This photo was taken near "The Black Rocks", a popular natural tourist destination. This little guy (girl?) was wandering around near the roadway and he was very friendly. He was obviously used to tourists because he let us approach him with no problem. You can see what I would assume are his parents in the background of the first picture.
Here he is again facing the cliffs above the Black Rocks
:: Duane ::
(this was just a sneak peak our St. Kitts pics - more to come!)
Here he is again facing the cliffs above the Black Rocks
:: Duane ::
(this was just a sneak peak our St. Kitts pics - more to come!)
03 March 2008
Anniversary Trip - Part 1
What a trip to St. Kitts we had! And boy did we take a lot of photos - over 800 between the two cameras! I'll be posting the link and some favorites once I get them captioned and uploaded. My review could get a little long so I'll probably do it in 2 or 3 posts, starting now! I've included a lot of hyperlinks if you want to see more info on the subjects too!
Before I go into it, some facts about St. Kitts:
Day 1 - Saturday
We began our trip on Saturday, February 23. Just about when we were getting ready to board our 8:30 flight to Charlotte, they discovered mechanical issues. This did not make us happy because we had a connection for the ONLY US air flight into St. Kitts that day. They thought they'd have it fixed around 10:30, when we were scheduled to land in Charlotte. Nice. We tried not to panic as they said an agent would be rescheduling connections and calling us up by party. Not sure that we'd make it to St. Kitts that day, we just waited. Luckily, US Air came through and instead of rescheduling a full flight of connections, they got us another plane. It was coming in, had to be unloaded and cleaned and we'd be on our way. The plane turn around went surprisingly fast and we were on our way, completely delighted. Then comes the Charlotte approach. The captain comes on and tells us they are starting the descent into the area. This is 15 minutes after we were scheduled to start boarding. I watched out the window for the ground but it was super foggy but once I did see ground it was really close - we may make it! With 30 minutes before our scheduled take off, the first leg touched down. We got ready to run b/c the next leg would be International - would it be a completely separate terminal like in PHL??? Turned out we were in the same terminal, only a few gates down and got there as boarding began but we were those people running through the airport.
We arrived in beautiful St. Kitts on time and with luggage (wasn't sure it'd made the move with us being US Air and all...)! We took a taxi to the St. Kitts Marriott to check in. The resort is located in beautiful Frigate Bay and has about 500 rooms. We had room 13-305 in the Cockleshell house. It could have had a better view but you can't complain about a week in paradise for less than $300 due to Marriott Rewards Points!!
We had dinner at the buffet restaurant and got acquainted with the resort and bar.
Day 2 - Sunday
We began the day with a quick breakfast and lounging by the pool. We decided to get out and go to the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park. We had taxi driver Patrick take us. It was about a 30 minute ride and he gave us a mini tour all the way there. The drive through the forest up the switchbacks was exciting. Then we saw the view from the top - it was incredible! St. Eustatious and Nevis were in view and my beloved island of Saba was almost in view. After taking in the view while enjoying a Carib, we headed back to the Marriott. Patrick waited patiently the whole time, St. Kitt's taxi drivers are awesome.
We made our first trek to the Carribean side for lunch Sunday afternoon. The afternoon sun and heat were relentless but the reward paid off - a delicious lunch and drinks at The Monkey Bar. Unfortunately there were no monkeys present. The signature drink, The BBC, was sooo good. It's Baileys, Banana Rum and Coconut rum in a frozen variety. Doesn't sound good but it was just perfect.
We finished off the night with a bunch of drinks while waiting for our dinner at La Cuchina, the Italian restaurant of the resort. Oh, and Duane hit the slot machines for about $125 too, so it was a good night!
Day 3 - Monday
We spent Monday lounging by the pool. In the afternoon we went for a long walk down the beach all the way to Half Moon Bay.
For dinner we went down to what would turn out to be our favorite place - Mr. X's Shiggity Shack. It's just as it sounds, a shack, but exploding with character and fun. I had the most delicious mahi mahi ever and Duane had the first of many delicious chicken burgers. Caribs and frozen drinks were way cheaper than the Marriott so they were plentiful! We probably spent less there than one of our meals from the night before, and it was SO much better! This was our kind of place. Also, I got a 2 pairs of natural seed earrings from the guy outside the bathrooms which are my new summer jewelry favorites! We walked home under the stars, it was a great night!
Day 4 - Tuesday
We took an all day Catamaran cruise to Nevis on Tuesday. We were a little worried when we saw the rain clouds over Nevis and the Carribean and all the people they were going to try to fit on this boat but it all worked out. The rain passed quickly, as it always did, and the scenery was gorgeous. The crew was quite unique, almost pirate like but they were great. The bar was open as soon as we set sail and the rum punch was pretty good!
We stopped in a small bay for snorkeling. One of the crew guys said that we were snorkeling in a place called "Shittay Bay" which sounded more like shitty than shit-tay, but whatever. Once I got in one of the first things I saw was a bunch of squid! I'd never seen them in real life and was thrilled, they were so cool to follow. The bay had a ton of Spiny sea urchins and the visibility was pretty good. I did a lot of diving to the bottom and had a great time. Duane stayed on the surface and watched but also enjoyed it. Before reboarding I followed the squid family around and watched them change colors. It was mesmerizing to watch them, I even got pretty close to touching one of the more curious fellows and got another more timid guy to show his spots as he would do when cornered. No inking though.
We continued sailing towards Nevis. The wind got really wicked as we approached the open water between the islands. There's no land East of this until Africa after all! Nevis looked beautiful, just one peak hidden behind a huge white cloud and blue sky surrounding. We pulled right up to the beach and got off to have lunch at Sunshine's Bar. Like always there were guys selling necklaces and a few other trinkets. We ended up buying a bracelet from the guy with a monkey b/c I took pics of the little guy - he had a pretty good gimmick going with that monkey! The bar was covered in college flags, one of which was Penn State. Duane was horrified to see it was next to an Ohio State flag! We ate a good lunch then took a walk down the beautiful beach. Next to Sunshine's was the Four Seasons Resort. Complete with personal cabanas, infinity pools and everything else luxurious, it looked like a pretty nice resort.
The catamaran picked us up at 2:30 (we weren't sure where exactly it went during lunch but it sailed off as soon as we got off) and we were on our way back to St. Kitts. The ride back was even more windy, the catamaran sailed almost the whole way back at a 45 degree angle to the direction we were headed. We took advantage of the open bar on the way home (hey, drinks were super expensive at the Marriott!) so went home to take a nap. We ended up sleeping longer than expected so at dinner at the Shiggety Shack around 9:30!
Day 5 - Wednesday
We spent Wednesday mostly lounging by the pool. In the afternoon we went down to the capital city of St. Kitts to check things out. Basseterre is a typical little Carribbean "city" but has some nice historic areas like Independence Square and the Circus, modeled after Piccadilly Circus in London.
For dinner we had reservations at a restaurant more fancy than we had been to in the past. We got a dolled up and headed to Serendipity. Set up on a hillside overlooking Basseterre, its a beautiful location. We had a nice table on the deck and good food. I had Mahi Mahi, Duane had Tuna steak and we shared a chocolate mousse dessert.
Our taxi driver, Ian was awesome. He brought us to the restaurant and told us to have them call when we were eating dessert. He didn't take any money when he dropped us off, just trusted us to call him! He was really well spoken on American politics and is an Obama supporter. He explained how it is important for him to follow the American economy and politics because it essentially effects his way of life, the more money Americans have to travel to the Caribbean, the more he can make. Sugar production was the original industry on the island. The sugar cane still covers much of the island. When production of sugar became less and less profitable, they changed their focus to tourism. The island now depends on tourists. When Ian picked us up he told us how he was saving to open a restaurant with a similar view as Serendipity but more casual. He showed us the spot and told us all about his plan. I really won't be surprised if he really does start a place in the next few years. He's an excellent customer service guy and making a pretty good buck driving a taxi. Ian's business card states his address - one of the government housing projects. We saw some of these projects, they are quaint little cabins and go for about $350 EC or $125 USD per month. I'm not sure about other expenses, but Ian's made about $40 USD just off of our one trip so he better be saving a ton of money. I'm just saying!
On the way home Ian took us up on the hill we looked at from the Marriott every day. There is the most gorgeous overlook of Frigate Bay from that hill. Little did we know we'd be back to the spot on Day 7 and that behind us was another gorgeous view of the thinnest section of the island and the Atlantic and Caribbean all in one view.
To be continued...
Before I go into it, some facts about St. Kitts:
- Officially named St. Christopher and Nevis, commonly called St. Kitts and Nevis, the sister islands are two countries, one federation.
- Population of St. Kitts 36,000, Nevis 9,000
- St. Kitts is 65 square miles with the highest peak of Mt. Liamiuga at 3,972 feet.
- English is spoken but with a distinct accent and West Indian idioms
- Local currency is East Carribean Dollars (EC) with an exchange rate of $2.7 EC per $1 USD.
- Local people are very proud of their island and very knowledgeable about it and the world outside it.
- About 8 hotels/resorts are on the island plus a handful of plantation inns/villas. The Marriott (where we stayed) is by far the largest of the resorts by over 5 times.
- Shaped kind of like a baseball bat, the thinnest section of the island is about 3/4 miles wide and totally walkable between the Atlantic Ocean side and Carribean Sea side (we did it almost daily).
Day 1 - Saturday
We began our trip on Saturday, February 23. Just about when we were getting ready to board our 8:30 flight to Charlotte, they discovered mechanical issues. This did not make us happy because we had a connection for the ONLY US air flight into St. Kitts that day. They thought they'd have it fixed around 10:30, when we were scheduled to land in Charlotte. Nice. We tried not to panic as they said an agent would be rescheduling connections and calling us up by party. Not sure that we'd make it to St. Kitts that day, we just waited. Luckily, US Air came through and instead of rescheduling a full flight of connections, they got us another plane. It was coming in, had to be unloaded and cleaned and we'd be on our way. The plane turn around went surprisingly fast and we were on our way, completely delighted. Then comes the Charlotte approach. The captain comes on and tells us they are starting the descent into the area. This is 15 minutes after we were scheduled to start boarding. I watched out the window for the ground but it was super foggy but once I did see ground it was really close - we may make it! With 30 minutes before our scheduled take off, the first leg touched down. We got ready to run b/c the next leg would be International - would it be a completely separate terminal like in PHL??? Turned out we were in the same terminal, only a few gates down and got there as boarding began but we were those people running through the airport.
We arrived in beautiful St. Kitts on time and with luggage (wasn't sure it'd made the move with us being US Air and all...)! We took a taxi to the St. Kitts Marriott to check in. The resort is located in beautiful Frigate Bay and has about 500 rooms. We had room 13-305 in the Cockleshell house. It could have had a better view but you can't complain about a week in paradise for less than $300 due to Marriott Rewards Points!!
We had dinner at the buffet restaurant and got acquainted with the resort and bar.
Day 2 - Sunday
We began the day with a quick breakfast and lounging by the pool. We decided to get out and go to the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park. We had taxi driver Patrick take us. It was about a 30 minute ride and he gave us a mini tour all the way there. The drive through the forest up the switchbacks was exciting. Then we saw the view from the top - it was incredible! St. Eustatious and Nevis were in view and my beloved island of Saba was almost in view. After taking in the view while enjoying a Carib, we headed back to the Marriott. Patrick waited patiently the whole time, St. Kitt's taxi drivers are awesome.
We made our first trek to the Carribean side for lunch Sunday afternoon. The afternoon sun and heat were relentless but the reward paid off - a delicious lunch and drinks at The Monkey Bar. Unfortunately there were no monkeys present. The signature drink, The BBC, was sooo good. It's Baileys, Banana Rum and Coconut rum in a frozen variety. Doesn't sound good but it was just perfect.
We finished off the night with a bunch of drinks while waiting for our dinner at La Cuchina, the Italian restaurant of the resort. Oh, and Duane hit the slot machines for about $125 too, so it was a good night!
Day 3 - Monday
We spent Monday lounging by the pool. In the afternoon we went for a long walk down the beach all the way to Half Moon Bay.
For dinner we went down to what would turn out to be our favorite place - Mr. X's Shiggity Shack. It's just as it sounds, a shack, but exploding with character and fun. I had the most delicious mahi mahi ever and Duane had the first of many delicious chicken burgers. Caribs and frozen drinks were way cheaper than the Marriott so they were plentiful! We probably spent less there than one of our meals from the night before, and it was SO much better! This was our kind of place. Also, I got a 2 pairs of natural seed earrings from the guy outside the bathrooms which are my new summer jewelry favorites! We walked home under the stars, it was a great night!
Day 4 - Tuesday
We took an all day Catamaran cruise to Nevis on Tuesday. We were a little worried when we saw the rain clouds over Nevis and the Carribean and all the people they were going to try to fit on this boat but it all worked out. The rain passed quickly, as it always did, and the scenery was gorgeous. The crew was quite unique, almost pirate like but they were great. The bar was open as soon as we set sail and the rum punch was pretty good!
We stopped in a small bay for snorkeling. One of the crew guys said that we were snorkeling in a place called "Shittay Bay" which sounded more like shitty than shit-tay, but whatever. Once I got in one of the first things I saw was a bunch of squid! I'd never seen them in real life and was thrilled, they were so cool to follow. The bay had a ton of Spiny sea urchins and the visibility was pretty good. I did a lot of diving to the bottom and had a great time. Duane stayed on the surface and watched but also enjoyed it. Before reboarding I followed the squid family around and watched them change colors. It was mesmerizing to watch them, I even got pretty close to touching one of the more curious fellows and got another more timid guy to show his spots as he would do when cornered. No inking though.
We continued sailing towards Nevis. The wind got really wicked as we approached the open water between the islands. There's no land East of this until Africa after all! Nevis looked beautiful, just one peak hidden behind a huge white cloud and blue sky surrounding. We pulled right up to the beach and got off to have lunch at Sunshine's Bar. Like always there were guys selling necklaces and a few other trinkets. We ended up buying a bracelet from the guy with a monkey b/c I took pics of the little guy - he had a pretty good gimmick going with that monkey! The bar was covered in college flags, one of which was Penn State. Duane was horrified to see it was next to an Ohio State flag! We ate a good lunch then took a walk down the beautiful beach. Next to Sunshine's was the Four Seasons Resort. Complete with personal cabanas, infinity pools and everything else luxurious, it looked like a pretty nice resort.
The catamaran picked us up at 2:30 (we weren't sure where exactly it went during lunch but it sailed off as soon as we got off) and we were on our way back to St. Kitts. The ride back was even more windy, the catamaran sailed almost the whole way back at a 45 degree angle to the direction we were headed. We took advantage of the open bar on the way home (hey, drinks were super expensive at the Marriott!) so went home to take a nap. We ended up sleeping longer than expected so at dinner at the Shiggety Shack around 9:30!
Day 5 - Wednesday
We spent Wednesday mostly lounging by the pool. In the afternoon we went down to the capital city of St. Kitts to check things out. Basseterre is a typical little Carribbean "city" but has some nice historic areas like Independence Square and the Circus, modeled after Piccadilly Circus in London.
For dinner we had reservations at a restaurant more fancy than we had been to in the past. We got a dolled up and headed to Serendipity. Set up on a hillside overlooking Basseterre, its a beautiful location. We had a nice table on the deck and good food. I had Mahi Mahi, Duane had Tuna steak and we shared a chocolate mousse dessert.
Our taxi driver, Ian was awesome. He brought us to the restaurant and told us to have them call when we were eating dessert. He didn't take any money when he dropped us off, just trusted us to call him! He was really well spoken on American politics and is an Obama supporter. He explained how it is important for him to follow the American economy and politics because it essentially effects his way of life, the more money Americans have to travel to the Caribbean, the more he can make. Sugar production was the original industry on the island. The sugar cane still covers much of the island. When production of sugar became less and less profitable, they changed their focus to tourism. The island now depends on tourists. When Ian picked us up he told us how he was saving to open a restaurant with a similar view as Serendipity but more casual. He showed us the spot and told us all about his plan. I really won't be surprised if he really does start a place in the next few years. He's an excellent customer service guy and making a pretty good buck driving a taxi. Ian's business card states his address - one of the government housing projects. We saw some of these projects, they are quaint little cabins and go for about $350 EC or $125 USD per month. I'm not sure about other expenses, but Ian's made about $40 USD just off of our one trip so he better be saving a ton of money. I'm just saying!
On the way home Ian took us up on the hill we looked at from the Marriott every day. There is the most gorgeous overlook of Frigate Bay from that hill. Little did we know we'd be back to the spot on Day 7 and that behind us was another gorgeous view of the thinnest section of the island and the Atlantic and Caribbean all in one view.
To be continued...
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