Virgin Islands National Park (#48)

 Saturday June 19, 2021 & Sunday June 20, 2021

I must confess that I didn't blog after the sailing trip.  So today is December 14, 2021 and I'm trying to remember what we did Saturday and Sunday based on pictures. To be honest, this trip was a few days too long for my liking.

I think on Saturday we went on a short, somewhat uneventful hike to Tektite Trail then I remember part of the bottom of our tiny car falling off and dragging on the ground for part of the drive back.  

I know we ate at Skinny Legs one more time so I think it was Saturday evening. Then we packed up.

Sunday was just the return home.  I think, overall, uneventful other than trying to eat lunch in St. Thomas.  We were going to eat at a restaurant near the airport that was highly recommended but once we waited 20 minutes or so to get seated, the waiter mentioned that it would take at least an hour before our food would be ready so we had to leave and eat at a Subway.  No issues though with the ferry or the flight home or with returning the car.

I'm glad we went - the kids had a blast - but not my cup of tea overall.

Virgin Islands National Park (#48)

 Friday, June 18, 2021

Today would have been my parent’s 55^th wedding anniversary.

Last night around 11:30 we lost power (which also meant we lost water).  This morning still nothing.  No power is one thing but no water is a big deal.  We had to get ready to go on our sailing trip.  Luckily with a gas stove that we were able to light, we could fry some eggs and cook some oatmeal.

We were supposed to meet Captain Mike at 10:30 but they called and asked if they could push it back by one hour because the power outage threw everything off.  We hung around the house and read (still no power) then drove back to our trusty parking spot and got a drink at this cool spot.

With drinks in hand, we found four beach chairs on the beach directly below High Tide (where we at earlier) and relaxed, waiting for Captain Mike. 

The next five hours were amazing.  He picked us up in a dingy and took us to his 40-foot sail boat.  Grant sailed us out of the bay and most of the way to our first snorkeling spot and Ryan sailed us the rest of the way.  Mike taught them both a lot about sailing.  We saw baby pelicans nesting up in the rocks. 

Then we stopped to snorkel.  I can’t remember where we were but looking at a map, it was possibly Lovango Cay.  There were beautiful fish – like thousands of tiny fish everywhere.  And other than one couple, we were the only people there.

I think we ate sandwiches after that then went over to Caneel Bay and snorkeled with sting ray.  There had been a big resort in the bay, owned by the Rockefellers and it was destroyed in Hurricane Irma in 2017.  So far, it still hasn’t been rebuilt.  And Kenny Chesney lives in a giant house at the top of the hill!

We got back to our beach around 5 and drove back to the house and yay, we have power.  Nick crashed so the kids and I ate pizza again – still no running water until Nick wakes up.  We started season 3 of Stranger Things then all went to bed, this time, much more comfortably than the night before.

Today was awesome.  Very expensive sailing trip but totally worth it.

Virgin Islands National Park (#48)

 Thursday, June 17, 2021

Today was a “No Beach” day.  We’re all quite sunburned so since we’re sailing tomorrow, we opted for no beach today.  Instead, we hung out at the house (I made up a sort of exercise routine) then we drove to Cruz Bay and drove around everywhere just trying to find a place to park.  We found a tiny parking lot near the passenger ferry and at a delicious lunch at High Tide, right on the beach.  Here’s the view from our table:

The lunch was great a relaxing.  We endured a short power outage but it didn’t impact lunch at all.  After lunch we walked around a did some souvenir shopping.  Ryan bought a beautiful sterling silver ring and Nick bought a hat and shirt.  

Grant grabbed an ice cream cone then we headed back to the car and took the road through the national park (the north shore road).  At the fork in the road past Maho Bay, where we normally turn right to get to our house, we turned left and drove to Francis Bay and to the Annaburg Ruins.  We parked in front of a sign and took a short, amazing trail (Leinster Bay Trail) to Watermelon Bay.  It looks like no roads will get you there and the boats moored in the bay were beautiful. 

From there it was back to the house for some downtime then a quick trip to the mini mart for more junk food (in the middle of a rainstorm), then back to the house for bean and cheese “tostadas” – taco shells broken in half – and a strange tasting avocado.  Then binging Stranger Things (finished season 2) then to bed.

Virgin Islands National Park (#48)

 Wednesday, June 16, 2021

This morning we drove to Trunk Bay and arrived around 9:15am.  Apparently, it’s considered to be the most beautiful beach in all of the Caribbean.  I believe it.  It was gorgeous.  We hung out in some mangroves with our beach chairs and ice chest and then around lunch time we ate at a food truck at the beach. Grant had a hot dog, Ryan – ballpark nachos, Nick a shrimp roll and me a Cesare wrap.  We were warned not to let the birds take our food. 

After lunch we hung out a little longer than we drove past our house and drove over to the east side of the island, basically to where Road 10 dead ends into a fork in the road, right where the map says East End.  We drove back to our mini mart and picked up some more food – like a 3-pack of frozen pizzas for $30.

Then we drove back to the house and swam/hung out/ate another frozen pizza and watched the rest of season 1 and part of season two of Stranger Things!

Not sure if I ever mentioned the wild donkies on the sides of the road?

Virgin Islands National Park (#48)

 Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Today was so fun.  We started off the day by driving to Maho Bay (part of the park).  We brought our chairs and pool floats, picked a spot on the post card-worthy beach, and hung out.  We played in the water, swam, rented snorkel gear and followed sea turtles around.  We stayed until noon or 1ish then decided to grab lunch but chose to stay away from Cruz Bay.  So, we went to Skinny Legs in Coral Bay and it was great!  Cheeseburgers, BLTs, etc.- very American – we got a great table in the shade and had a leisurely lunch complete with wild roaming chickens and cats.  We joked that we might eat there every day.

From there we went into the gift shop and Grant got a hat and shirt and Ryan grabbed a computer sticker. We went back to the house and hung out by the pool and listened to music.  

 It’s 7:30 now (feels like midnight and we just wrapped up a pasta dinner out on the deck and are about to re-watch all three seasons of Stranger Things!

We’re going to hit some more beaches tomorrow.

Virgin Islands National Park (#48)

 Monday, June 14, 2021

Our power came back on around midnight, which was nice because it’s pretty hot and sticky without air conditioning.  But our water did not come back on. 

I called the maintenance line and spoke with a guy who decided he would try to walk us through how to prime the pump rather than make the long drive over here.  He then asked me if he could speak to a man – good grief.  45 minutes later, we had running water.

We hung around the house a while, taking in the view 

and learning about the house, then we drove through Coral Bay to the southern side of the island to Salt Pond Bay (part of the national park).  It was stunning! We played in the water a bit then hiked to Salt Pond (which is actually a pond and was red) then kept hiking towards Blue Cobble beach – I’m not sure that’s the official name but it’s part of the Ram’s Head Trail.  Once we got to the blue rock beach, we hung out there a while then decided to head back.  But the sound the water makes as the wave is heading back out to see, across the rocky beach is so cool!

From there, we drove on Highway? 10 back to Cruz Bay (which is where the ferry dropped us off) and found a place to eat.  The whole area was crowded – hard to find a parking spot and long waits for lunch but we had a good lunch at Margarita Phil’s.  there were chickens roaming around that utterly freaked out Ryan – who knew she’s scared of chickens – and there were also baby chicks running around too.  

The kids got smoothies afterwards, next door, and then we walked across the street to the national park sign and visitor center.  We got magnets, hat pins and passbook stamps then stopped at the gourmet grocery store.  Oh my.  Prices were still outrageous. The selection was bad and the store was tiny.  $12 for a small container of strawberries; all the meat looked sus to me, etc.  But we managed to grab a few things then drove home via the beach road of the national park.  BEAUTIFUL.  We know what we’re doing tomorrow!

At the house, we lounged then fixed a frozen Red Barron pizza for dinner and ate on our deck.  Not the best food but the best view ever.

It gets dark so early that after you eat, it’s kind of strange but by 8:00 or so, you’re sort of ready to go to bed.  The kids each have their own rooms (like not even connected to the main house) so they each split and I studied a while (math teachers exam).

It was a great day.

Virgin Islands National Park (#48)

Sunday, June 13, 2021

 We left our house this morning around 7:15 to catch our 10:30am flight to St. Thomas – after our very close call flying to Nashville for Spring Break, we decided to give ourselves plenty of time!

We had no issues with the airport or the flight – it did take off a little bit late, which of course, made me nervous because the person I’ve been dealing with to plan this trip had freaked me out about missing the ferry to St John.

I watched the first two episodes of Ted Lasso on the plane and that show is great!

The kids did great and slept some and the flight was long – 5 hours.

We landed in St. Thomas on time, deboarded the plane into the outdoors, which is always cool and something the kids had only done a few times, and breezed through the whole COVID screening process.

Let me back up a bit.  This trip, which I booked in January, shortly after my dad died, had been a little bit more logistically challenging than any trip we’ve ever been on before.  We all had to get negative COVID tests and log them into a database (then wait to make sure everything went ok) then show these QR codes on our phones to people at the airport after they took our temp.  We don’t have to do anything to get back on the plane. 

We breezed through this line, literally in under a minute and our suitcases came record fast too.  I was the 4^th or 5^th person in line at the Avis rental car stand and the line was not moving at all.  Turns out they over-rented cars so even though we got there at 5 pm and had a valid reservation, we were told to wait an hour and that they’d call me.  I was stressed out – last ferry to St. John leaves at 7pm!  So, we went to the airport bar, got a stiff pina colada, Nick got a beer, and we waited.  About an hour later, she called me, we ran to the counter, got the car (which was better than what we rented – a Hyundai Tuscon rather than a Hyundai Sonata) and hit the road (with less than a full tank of gas 😊)

And then we began driving on the left-hand side of the road to the ferry.  And what we heard was correct – the drivers are crazy!  Nick drove the whole time which was good because once we got to the ferry, he had to back the car all the way to the very back of the ferry.  I would have freaked.  But oh my, the ferry ride was stunning.  Note the beautiful sunset!

We arrived on St. John at 7:20 and it was dark – like fully dark, sun totally set.  Bianca and her son escorted us to our stunning house.  It’s about a 7 or 8 mile, very scary drive to the house.  As we pulled up, it was like pitch black dark, and Bianca informed us that the power was out on the entire island so she and her son showed us around by flash light.  It was eerie.  There were amazing sound coming from the trees and she told us it’s all different tree frogs.  It’s a bit unnerving not really being able to see the house you rented.

We needed to grab some groceries so we drove into Coral Bay (which is basically the town we’re staying in” and went to the Love City Mini Market, who seemed to have a generator.  The food was shockingly expensive - $12 for a bag of apples.  Very little vegetables, bad selection, all strange.  So, we grabbed some basics and went back to the house.  Now here we sit in a house we can’t really see and have just learned we have no running water because it runs on an electric pump.   

But we made it.  I will not die without seeing Virgin Islands National Park! 

Spring Break 2021

 Friday, March 19, 2021

We had a great breakfast this morning at my favorite Hampton Inn, then we left Asheville at 7:45am for Nashville.  Around 9:45 we got to Knoxville and made a quick detour through the University of Tennessee campus then we stopped at a nasty gas station and switched drivers.  

Trip Summary:

8 states

3 national parks

3 MLB stadiums

3 NFL stadiums

5 major US cities

8 colleges (9 if you count University of Pittsburg).

Favorite College:

Grant: UNC

Ryan: UNC

Barb: UNC

Nick: UVA

We’re got to the airport extra early, to avoid the stress of the departure.  We were able to check in pretty quickly (of yeah, we put 2,400 miles on that poor van), then we all got a leisurely lunch at the airport food court then boarded, left and arrived back in Dallas, all on time.

This trip was busy and eventful but not hectic.  It still felt like a vacation and I think everyone had a great time. Signing off until June!

Spring Break 2021

 Thursday, March 18, 2021

Today was another long but fun day.  We left our cabin at 8am and first drove down to the University of Virginia.  We drove all through the campus and it was pretty.  From there we headed towards Duke, stopping in Scottsville, VA for a cup of coffee (Barb & Nick), apple cider (Ryan) and an iced caramel macchiato (Grant) at a cool coffee/bookstore – Baine’s Books & Coffee. 

We pulled onto the Duke campus at 1:30ish and that campus was stunning.  (Noteworthy that they had just announced a full-campus lockdown due to 240 or more positive COVID cases.) But as Ryan described it – it was a little bit too bubbly – too perfect.  After Duke, it was on to UNC Chapel Hill and dang, it was my, Grant and Ryan’s favorite of all the campuses we’d seen.  It was now like 2:30pm and we were starving.  Most places near campus were closed for dine-in but we finally found a place called Al’s Burger Shack and we were allowed to eat outside.  There was no bathroom so we went next door to the Beer Study -a cool beer bar.  The burgers were delicious and the French fries were seasoned with dried rosemary.  I don’t know if it was really one of the best burgers ever or if we were all just starving but regardless, it was good.  

When we walked back to the minivan, it initially wouldn’t start and I felt panicked.  Ryan googled something quickly and we got around it but dang, I can’t say I didn’t start mentally catastrophizing!

After UNC, we drove to Asheville and that drive was little bit scary.  It was pouring rain and as I was passing an 18-wheeler on the left, with a retaining wall on my left, I had a panic feeling/premonition that the truck was going to crush us against the wall.  As soon as I had that feeling, one of the tires of our car hydroplaned.  And dang, it was scary.  I had to pull over into a gas station and cry for a minute because I had so much adrenaline in my system that my arms and legs were shaking.  After that, the weather cleared up and we stayed at a beautiful Hampton Inn, literally across the street from the Baymont Inn we stayed at SIX years ago.  I quickly walked on the treadmill in the fitness center (which was opened) then we drove downtown and intended to eat at Mellow Mushroom.   The wait was long and it started to get cold so we walked a but up the street and ate at Wasabi, a Japanese restaurant.  Ryan had chicken fried rice, I had veggie hibachi and the boys ate sushi.  It was actually very good but it was also close to 9pm.  The rest of the country operates on a different time construct than Texas!

It was raining as we were leaving the restaurant so we all ran back to the car and that was literally the only time we got “caught” in the rain.  This trip had a gloomy forecast, so much so that the kids’ packing lists said RAIN COATS in all caps.  We weren’t bugged by the rain on any hikes.

Back at the room, we called it a night!

Spring Break 2021

 Wednesday, March 17, 2021

This morning we left our cabin around 9 and drove over to New River Gorge National Park, the newest (63^rd) national park.  The drive was a little convoluted as my phone map took us to a random point that added a lot of time, a lot of winding, scary driving time, to our drive but we finally got to the main visitor center at 1:30pm.  And wow, this was a great national park.  The bridge, the main feature, is the third highest bridge in the united states and was built in 1977.  We pulled into the visitor center, which was supposed to be completely closed and it was actually open to get maps and passbook stamps, which was a nice surprise.  We ate a late lunch at a picnic table, literally in the parking lot of the visitor center, then we got our passbooks stamped and walked on the nice boardwalk down to the lookout of the bridge – it was beautiful.

National Park #47!! - note the sign has a cloth covering with the new name.

From there we drove a short distance, to the Endless Wall Trail (All Trail rated it the best trail in the park). 

  It was around a 2 mile, relatively flat trail, and it took us out to the edge of the river.  The views were beautiful.  This national park is pretty spectacular. It was quite the detour but totally worth it.  That was our 47^th national park 

View from the trail of the river

Nick drove us home and we got back to the cabin at 7:15. We are up our leftovers (grilled cheese, bacon, PB&J, etc., then Grant beat me at chess again and we sat in the hot tub for a while.  Then showers and laundry.  It’s 10pm now and we’re sitting in the living room watching Liv & Maddie on Netflix. 

We won’t be up much longer as we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.

This trip really has been incredibly fun and everyone has gotten along well

Spring Break 2021

 Tuesday March 16, 2021

Today was a little bit epic.  We got up this morning and had coffee, eggs, bacon, fruit, etc., all cooked in our own little kitchen then we drove into the park to tackle what turned out to be an 8.25 “very strenuous” hike – and it was.  The trail was called the Cedar Run Trail to Whiteoak Cedar Run Link to Whiteoak Canyon Trail to the Whiteoak Canyon Fire Road.  

That should have been a 7.4 mi loop but the Whiteoak Cedar Run Link Trail was closed due to treacherous conditions so we had to take a longer route that ended up being 8.25 basically either straight uphill or downhill.  BUT we got to see tons of waterfalls, six of which were thirty feet or taller and the largest of which was 86 feet tall. 

We started the hike a little before 10am and didn’t finish until 3.  We enjoyed four (I think) creek crossings, the last of which involved Grant falling off a rock and getting his entire foot wet (and I should mention that when we started the hike it was 29 degrees outside and when we finished, it was 38).

Around 12:15 we stopped for our now mainstream trail meal of pepperoni, cream cheese and Ritz crackers with fruit.  The back part of the hike was just straight uphill so we made Twizzler stops, stopping every 30 minutes for everyone to have 1 Twizzler stick. 

My stomach bugged me the whole time so we fondly called it my fiery lake of poo inside my lower intestine.  But the lake is stilled dammed up so hopefully it will be emptied tomorrow!

The hike was exhausting but rewarding.  

Once we got back to the car, we drove about 20 miles south to the Swift Run Gap Entrance and exited the park there, stopping in Elkton for McDonalds drive-through!

From there we grabbed a few more items at the grocery store in Luray and made it back to our cabin around 5 – I think. 

Ryan fell asleep, Grant and I played chess (after I took a quick bath because dang, I sweat a lot) and Nick had some work to do.  Dinner was sandwiches – PB&J, grilled cheese, grilled cheese and bacon, and an egg sandwich.

After dinner we sat and watched Rain Man and the kids loved it.  It’s now 11 and we’re all going to bed.

It was a pretty easy decision to not spend tomorrow in Shenandoah and instead make the three-hour drive over to New River Gorge, officially to us, Park #47!

This trip has been busy and crazy AND relaxing - a strange combination.  So far, five major cities, four colleges, with three more to go, and two parks with one more to go.

Time to go to bed!!

Spring Break 2021

 Monday March 15, 2021

Today was a fun day.  We left our hotel around 7:45 after a quick downstairs breakfast.  We drove through Akron, OH over to Pennsylvania, mine and the kids’ first time visiting the state. Around 10, we entered Pittsburg and wow, it was beautiful!  We saw the Steelers stadium (PNC Field) and the Pirates stadium – both just smack in the middle of downtown. 

Steelers Stadium

Then we drove over to see Carnegie Mellon University.  It was surprisingly nice and not just right in the middle of the city but off to the side just a bit.   Ryan liked it probably more than the other three we’ve seen so far (Vanderbilt, Louisville, Ohio State) and said she could see herself going there.  It’s also like $70k per year for tuition.

From there we wandered, and I mean wandered, through the back roads for four hours – otherwise, to take the turnpike would have cost $80+ in tolls, assuming of course, that we had a toll tag.  We stopped once at a gas station outside of Pittsburg then stopped again just outside of Cumberland, Maryland, at a Chick-fil-a for lunch in our laps.

It was around 2:45pm when we entered the north end of the park through Fort Royal, VA.  

Park #46

All of the visitor centers are still closed for the season but the park is oriented in a skinny 100-mile NE to SW fashion and when you enter at the north, you enter a mile marker 1 on Skyline Drive.  

From there, all overlooks, trailheads, etc. are referenced by their mile marker. We drove to mile marker 50ish, seeing several deer along the way, and hiked the Dark Hollow Falls Trailhead.  I think it was around 2 miles round trip.

Oh, it’s very cold here and it was supposed to rain the entire trip and so far, we’ve dodged all of the rain.  I don’t think we’ll be so lucky come Wednesday but so far, so good.

After the hike, we drove back up to mile marker 30ish and exited the park on Hwy 211 to the west.  We drove a few miles into the town of Luray, VA and got some groceries (steak dinner, breakfast, lunch and drinks).  Then we FINALLY arrived at our cabin in Shenandoah Woods – we’re staying at the Lakeland cabin, address 136 Log Cabin Drive, Stanley, VA.  This place is great – although there’s a super nasty smell outside that we think is from the neighboring chicken coop.

We got settled, turned up the heat, ate steaks, played chess, sat in the lovely hot tub, baked cookies and are now in bed at 11pm.  The kids are upstairs in the loft – 4 single beds and a game table – and we’re downstairs in the “master”.  We have one bathroom, a full kitchen, living rooming, dining room and a washer and dryer… and it’s very clean!

It was a lot of driving but tomorrow is ALL DAY in the park and it’s gonna be fun.

Spring Break 2021

 Sunday March 14, 2021

We woke this morning and were actually able to eat a breakfast in the dining room of the hotel.  The view over to Cincinnati was great as was the food.  

Then, around 9am (with Daylight Savings Time in effect) we headed towards Cuyahoga.  The drive was easy.  We drove through Columbus on our way to Cleveland and drove all through THE Ohio State University campus and it was beautiful.  It reminded Nick and me of A&M.  Ryan has no interest in going there but it was great just to see it. Our only stop was right outside of the park for gas and a quick lunch at Subway (because everything else was closed for dine-in) – the Chinese restaurant, the pizza restaurant, the McDonalds.  We arrived a little after 1, at the Boston Mills Visitor Center and damn it was cold – not so much cold but SO windy.  We quickly purchased hat pins and magnets and grabbed a map before jumping back into our minivan to warm up.  The parking lot seemed full but very few people were in the visitor center.

The park was strange – it seems like it was built within an existing community and I’d read online that when it was made into a national park in 1974, it was with some controversy as many in congress couldn’t understand what was so special about it – I agree with those members of congress.

We drove over to see Brandywine Falls – very pretty - 

then headed south to the Ledges area of the park and went on the 2.2 mile Ledges Trail – pretty but not spectacular – but fun.

After that we just weren’t all that interested in seeing more so we headed towards our hotel and say the Everett Covered Bridge along the way. 

We’re staying at a Holiday Inn Express on Brecksville Rd in Richland, OH.  It’s just so-so but there wasn’t much else around.

We stopped first at the Pilot gas station/Wendy’s next door to the hotel and attempted to order Frosties but the Frosty machine was broken.  After checking in we drove up to Cleveland (about 20 minutes north) and saw the Indians stadium, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Browns stadium, Lake Erie and downtown Cleveland in general.  

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Cleveland Browns Stadium

The downtown was clean and deserted.  No one was there – everything seemed boarded up and it was another strange experience, much like Chicago was.  But we found a great pizza place and parking spot and had an enjoyable dinner at Pizza 216 on Euclid Avenue.  Then we went next door for expensive ice cream at Cathy’s inside a stunning-looking Hyatt. 

From there we drove back to the room.  The day was great.  The park was an expected disappointment but damn we’ve done Ohio.

We’re back at the room now, it’s about 8:15, and we’re all relaxing and looking forward to staying at the same place for the next three days!