Nov 30, 2010

The Week of Griff

Wow.  I am exhausted just thinking about all the ground we covered!  Funny how I picked up Griffin from the airport, and he said he really didn't have anything in mind - just wanted to chill and relax for the week.  Then two hours later when I met him for dinner, he had already booked a fly fishing trip and listed off about 18 things he wanted to see and do.  So we did ...

Caught up over a nice dinner at Sandcastles that evening and was fun to have Kirby join us.  I had to work Tuesday and Wednesday, but was able to break for lunch - one day Kirby met us at Coconuts as they had live music (Matt Vrba - originally from Chicago, spent some time in Nashville before moving down); the other day a swarm of bees joined us at Turtles.  Tuesday night we met up with Lisa and Jeff for beach bingo, then we all went over to Rowdy Joes for dinner and met up with Kirby, Kim, and her friend Chuck.  Still raving about the food there ... and the ice cream!  Last week's flavors were cookies and cream, chunky monkey, espresso macadamia nut, and chocolate reeses pieces.  DELICIOUS!!!  And yes I tried them all!  Still bummed they were out of the banana conch fritters by the time we got there though.  Wednesday night went to Blue Moon for jazz ... and it has quickly become another one of my favorite restaurants.  I ended up ordering the crab cakes as an appetizer, then another order as my entree!  Was a big night as they had a going away celebration for the former owners ... my friend Eric and his wife are the new owners, so I've requested they keep at least the live music and crab cakes!

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Kirby and Kim graciously invited us over to their condo where we celebrated with about 20 others.  Felt like home - lots of folks from the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, and Illinois - and we had deep fried turkey, baked mac and cheese, pan fried corn, sweet potato casserole, and all the other traditional holiday goodies.  I finally had some luck baking and introduced my pumpkin bars and peanut butter pie.  Seemed to go over well =)   Called home and had my brother pass around the phone - was so good talking to my family!  Since we couldn't video chat via phone, I texted him some pictures to pass around ... maybe not the best idea, as my family was sitting around trying to stay warm, while I was showing off pictures of the beach!  After stuffing ourselves silly like you are supposed to on Thanksgiving, Kirby, Lisa, Jeff, Griff and I headed to Hamm's Bluff where we hiked to a lighthouse to watch the sunset - great way to work off that turkey with a beautiful view!  We were all exhausted by the time we got back - and surprisingly hungry.  We decided a slice of greasy pizza sounded good, but no restaurants were open.  Kirby, Griff and I found that the grocery store was open, so a Totino's frozen pizza and few boxes of pizza rolls later, we sat down to eat and watch football in true Thanksgiving fashion.

Friday morning got up and checked out a house for sale - didn't take Griff too long to decide he could live here too!  Then we FINALLY sat on the beach for about an hour and a half ... sadly that was our only beach time all week!  Headed over to Christiansted that afternoon - walked around town, caught some football, finally found conch fritters, then strolled through the "Jump Up" street festival - what a blast!  All sorts of street vendors and performers - enjoyed the steel drum band and mocko jumbies.  And I'll know better next time to go hungry, though I did manage to make room for 'peanut punch' ... the best drink ever!!!  Basically a combination of peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk.  WOW!!! 

Saturday we got up and drove to Point Udall - Griff has officially seen the entire island!  Stopped at a great little place called Good Spirits for lunch ... then met up with friends to go sailing!  My friend Eric and his family invited us to join his friend Orris on a sail over to Buck Island.  It was absolutely beautiful ... but let's just say next time I hope the sea sickness doesn't hit me =(   Stopped back by Good Spirits for a snack (Sprite, and I managed to eat 1/2 piece of chocolate peanut butter pie), but then I was done for the night.  It was a long day - just hoping next time I can truly enjoy the experience!

Sunday I let Griff go for his daily walk/run/hike/swim as I headed to the grocery store (not ideal vacation time spent running errands I would assume).  We met up with Kirby for lunch at Rhythms, then went up to Normas in the rainforest.  Didn't drink with the pigs this time, but they aren't kidding when they claim to have the best banana daiquiris on island!  An instant cure to sea sickness =)   It was a good, low key, chill kind of day - watched the sun set (and kept up with football scores) from Coconuts, stopped in the Lost Dog for a snack, then the entire crew met up for Griffin's farewell dinner at Sandcastles.  A great way to finish off the week!

Amazing that it was a jam-packed week, but we still didn't have time for the Cruzan Rum tour, sugar plantation tour, moonlight kayak, LEAP mahogany shop in the rainforest, and I'm sure I'm missing a few.  Griff - I had a blast, thanks again for a great visit! 











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