Thursday, February 17, 2011:
Up extra early this morning - my appointment with Dr. Pedersen (aka Dr. Victor Newman) is at 9. We got there on time, but unfortunately the Doc didn’t. We finally saw him at 10:30. The findings? Now he thinks I have developed tendonitis, so the foot needs to be immobilized with more than just the side supports. My choice is a short hard cast or a boot. I’ll take the removable boot please! I’m having a hard enough time as it is sitting in the shower on a 5 gallon bucket…it will be physically impossible for me to have a hard cast and try to take a bath because the tub is enclosed by those cheap glass doors and the sink covers the front side, so I can’t even get in the tub and hang my foot out! At least I can take the boot off at night too and be able move my foot a little to keep it from massive atrophy. Sigh.
The nurse got the boot and wrapped me up. (It gave me the opportunity to talk to her and get some valuable information about housing and the island. She’s only been here about a year but you’d be surprised what you can get in a short amount of time. Especially about shopping!) Luckily the boot’s not too tall and it really does make a difference. I’m amazed. It’s heavy though and makes my right side about 1½-2 inches taller. Dr. Pedersen adjusted my crutches (the 3rd different set of instructions I have received so far), but standing is still interesting and I’m walking crooked like Quasimodo! So either I walk crooked or I have to tippy-toe on my left side to walk straight…which makes my left foot cramp! …there’s just no end to it is there… I contemplate going to Payless and buying a pair of shoes with a heel (how fun is that to have an excuse!)…but I have my limited suitcase space to think about. I already have my OneSole’s and I think they will probably do ok. (...pick yourselves up off the floor…I passed on an opportunity and didn’t buy new shoes! I think I have a fever.) But we’ll see how these work and hold up first. If not, I’m going shopping!
We did go to RadioShack so that I could get a car adapter for my phone to charge it. Using the map sucks the power quick!
So, we’re off island roaming again…go East young man (that’d be Gerald)! Headed east we get caught in a little bit of a traffic jam from some road construction. Made us feel like home, unfortunately we missed a turn. Oh well. We’re not in a hurry and we just take another route. We head towards the Buccaneer Golf Course to check out the course and fees. We’ll try to keep from driving on the course this time! The Buccaneer was pretty easy to get in and out of. Their rates are pretty reasonable and it looks like a decent course. Unfortunately you have to go up a couple flights of stairs to get to the clubhouse, so I stayed down stairs and Gerald went up and got the information.
While Gerald was up getting golf information I start talking to an older gentleman that works at the course. Looks like he is there to pack the carts and help people coming and going. We talk about the beautiful day and about the rooster I hear crowing not too far away! Apparently they are wild and all over the island (like Key West I guess). Probably got loose because of a hurricane. He said they find themselves a hen, get in the bushes and the next thing you know, you got a bunch of eggs and then baby chicks running around! But he said the mongoose get to a majority of them, so they’re not over running…like the mongoose!
Our next stop is to find The Reef golf course and get information there, which is further east. On the way we pass Cheeseburgers, which is a little roadside hamburger place (bet you couldn’t tell that from the name huh?). I’ve seen it advertised and there have been good reviews on the food. Kind of at an odd spot in the road in the middle of nowhere, but at least we know where it is now. Continuing east we get to the Reef and Gerald gets the information. It’s way cheaper to play here. It’s only a 9 hole, and not as pretty as the other courses, but hey...golf is golf right?
Now that we are done with our golf course hunt, we can just cruise the island and look around. We end up going all the way to the farthest point east on the island … "Point Udall" to be exact. It’s suppose to be the farthest point east in the United States. I’d venture to say south too. Although Key West has one of those too! Oh well. Absolutely beautiful views. It’s a beautiful clear day and towards the north you can actually see all the way to St. Thomas, St. John and a few other islands I don’t know the names of. East and South is just all ocean. The memorial is a sundial that they constructed in 2000…pretty cool. Just as we were leaving I saw a big splash in the east that caught my eye. It was pretty far out, and I couldn’t see what it was. The winds aren’t strong today, so there aren’t any big whitecaps like that so it had me wondering. But Gerald was driving so we didn’t hang around any longer to see if we would see it again. Later while eating I found out that there are whales still hanging around the islands! So I’m going to take a guess that what I saw was a whale! ACK! We should have stayed there longer! It would be a great lookout point. You have full views of every direction…except for due west…the island itself is kinda in the way!
Also out on Point Udall is an array telescope. Because of all the city and street lights that are on at night in the mainland, the night skies are not dark enough and they can’t see as many stars as they used to. So…they put a telescope here…out in the middle of the ocean on this less inhabited island where there is less light interfering. I’ve read somewhere that actually there are few places left in the world that are dark enough for them to see all the stars. The ancients saw more stars than we do today. Isn’t that sad? Anyway…here is it.
Ominous looking huh? I think I was waiting for James Bond to come flying across the road or land on our car!
We started west to go around the south side of the island, by Divi Bay Resort…where the casino is and where we stayed the last time we were here. Some of it looks familiar. It’s pretty barren out here. Not much around on this side of the island, which is actually alluring to us. Like living in the country – not so much hustle and bustle. All the activity happens in Fredericksted and Christiansted…or in the middle of the island where are the regular-type stores are – like K-Mart!
Well, it’s about 3 now and we’re starting to get hungry. I haven’t eaten anything yet today and Gerald only had a couple pieces of toast this morning. We decide to go back to Cheeseburgers. It just sounded so good when we passed it. We get there and man it smells good. They have entertainment most every night too. We order a drink and a burger. It doesn’t take too long and it is HUGE! You don’t get too many fries, but who needs fries when the burger almost takes up the whole plate! And it was SOOOO good! I couldn’t finish all of mine, but I gave it one heck of a good try so I got a piece of foil for the rest to take home and eat later. Next time we are going to share. We should come back here when Evonne and John come down – they’ll enjoy it! The only bad thing is there is no view, but I guess if it’s at night, you wouldn’t see it anyway.
Back on the road, through more open fields and by the ocean, then back to the condo for a nap then finish my leftovers! =) We also need to plan our day tomorrow. Maybe drive through the center of the island and get familiar with what’s on the inside, then maybe walk (or gimp) around Fredericksted or Christiansted. Gerald wants to find out where the Brew Pub is in Christiansted. He wants to go there Saturday night because he heard they have entertainment, and most of them are supposed to be from St. Louis. We’ll probably take a taxi that night so both of us can imbibe and not have to worry about driving and staying on the right (errr…correct) side of the road!
Full moon is supposed to be tomorrow. While I’m anxious to get out again and soak in as much of St. Croix as I can, after being house bound for 3 weeks from an injury which occurred the night of a full moon, I’m leery of getting out in the full moon again. Maybe I’ll be ok as long as I’m home by dark! I hope…
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