Friday, February 18, 2011

Friday, February 18, 2011:

Now this is what you don’t want to see first thing in the morning.  Especially after you have just enjoyed your first night of silence in a long time! 

Please let it be a tent for a wedding…and only up for 1 night!  Let that be a reminder to put that on a list of things to consider when staying somewhere.  Noise.  Wherever you stay or go, if you don’t want to hear obnoxious noise, at all hours of the night…be sure to ask. At least it will give you an out.   

Today our goal is to check out the airport for picking up Evonne and John then driving down Hwy 70 (aka Centerline Rd., Queen Mary Hwy., Hams Bluff Rd., and Rt. 58) and just looking around the center of the island.  Well…the “Nagagator” was in full force while driving around today.  The roads come up on you quick and it was busy out today.  The roads aren’t marked…or have 12 different names.  Then to top it off…it was raining and made it worse.  My GPS stopped working because of the clouds…so we were just driving around blind!  Help me!

We thought about going to the big Agri-fest which starts this weekend.  It’s apparently a big thing here.  It’s right down Hwy.70, which is convenient. We drove by and it’s basically equivalent to the State Fair.  And you know I love a good State Fair.  Wonder if they have fried Twinkies? We’re wondering if we should drive or take a taxi.  If we drive, at least we can leave when we want, but that means we have to drive and maneuver through the crowds. (not a good idea for Gerald and the Nagagator).  If we take a taxi…it would be easier, but then we have to wait for them to come pick us up. I’m not sure what we are going to do yet.    

We also drove by the Botanical Gardens and the University. Tried to get to the salt pond and the Sandy Point Wildlife Preserve on the Southwest end, but the road was closed…so we didn’t get to go there. We looped around and then looked for the rum distillery…but never could find it, but we did see the race track which is by the airport…that sounds like it could be fun.

Since it was raining we didn’t want to get out and walk anywhere…so we just drove around.  The inside of the island is definitely not the pretty part.  Which is probably why the taxi’s always take the outer roads when possible…at least the visitors can concentrate on the beautiful ocean…and not the poor housing or abandoned buildings.

Gerald needed a haircut and he’s been looking for a barber, so as we were driving down Hwy. 70 he stopped at a little shack on the side of the road.  I just waited in the car.

I started looking at this ancient tree out front and the massive roots sticking out of the ground, odd bark and unusual fruit or seeds in the tree.  Don’t know what kind it is, but I’m going to have to find out. (I think it is a mahogany).  It was a HUGE tree, and even had a metal pole sticking out of it, that the tree had grown around.  

And then while I was sitting there, I heard roosters. Roosters crowing! It’s 2pm…and they are crowing over and over! I look in the empty lot next to us and there is a rooster with 2 hens pecking around.  And then another rooster came out of the bushes with MORE HENS! I took a video! My gawd! They ARE all over! 

(CHICKEN DINNER!)

We’ve had about enough today.  Locals are honking at us and the Driver and Nagatator are about to come to “fist to cuffs” if we don’t take a break.  We decide to just head back to the condo.

We first went to K-Mart to see about getting a little collapsible cooler for maybe doing a little picnic on the beach.  We got a few other little things there too.  Then we went to the grocery store to pick up some ice cream, bread and shower cleaner.  The shower cleaner is …duh…for the shower. The shower walls are gross (a serious lack of a good cleaning) and I figure while I’m sitting on that 5 gallon bucket in the shower…might as well be taking the opportunity to scrub down the walls while I’m sitting there! (…who else thinks that way….? Is it just me?)

We talked about going next door to Smugglers Cove tonight and listen to music…but with the full moon…I’m thinking I’d just be better off staying inside. No need pushing my luck!

We thought about going to the fair tomorrow, but if we go to the Brew Pub tomorrow night, going to the fair on the same day may prove to be a little too much, so we may wait for Sunday to do the fair. We’ll just hang around the condo tomorrow and maybe take in a little sun by the pool … if there’s not a wedding partying taking up the entire area!

I’ll try to post on Facebook if we’re down by the Harbor Cam tomorrow night.  The Brew Pub is a little further down from there, but I may hobble up there anyway.  (http://www.gotostcroix.com/live/harborcam.php)  We should be there between 7:30-8pm so keep an eye out in case I can’t get an internet connection down there.