Kinda makes me feel bad for replying to a post from this one fella that posted and then he replied back saying how unwelcomed he felt. Islander removed the thread, of course, and I don't know if this particular poster was just a troll or not, but I will be more vigilant in the future. Thanks, Blu.

Marty i dont belive you were out of line w/ that guy... the VI is not w/o problems,but i belive there is far more good than bad and some people are just negative and couldent have a goodtime where ever they are or go... we all know some of these types in our everyday lives. eg; co-workers, clients, the guy sittin' next to you in the bar... we do need to call these people out when they make false statements or half truths... especially when they flirt w/ the reputation and economy of an already fragile VI market due to these people. we all dont always agree on here and debate is welcomed, but you blu and many others provide great info for those who want to make the best of thier vacation w/ planning and advise. most people visiting here are trying to decide on a destination or have already chosen and are looking for advise or just to get jazzed up about thier decision.. so we must defend against trolls(as u put it)

Thanks, Lip! I feel better now!!!

Lip is right (as usual) - someone who comes here right out of the gate bashing the VI is more likely to be a troll than someone who comes simply asking questions about planning and visiting. Marty, you are always so warm and engaging. No worries m'son!

The insults on that other forum are just tacky - and the fact that the moderator allows it is even tackier. I've asked her to delete the entire thread since I've only got on post on there - the opening post - and the rest are just nonsense banter and targeted insults from a few regulars. But, it's all still there and I know she saw my note. Based on the ratio of lurkers to posters over there, I suspect that site serves more comic relief and/or outlets for frustration than anything else - lots of people lurking - very few saying anything about anything. I GUESS NOT - yikes!!

Let us never sink so low. If we do, I will declare a group vacation and meet you all in the VI for a release and renew!

I have been lurking on this wonderful forum for several months in anticipation for our upcoming trip (Oct 26) to St Thomas and St John. All of the regulars here have been very helpful and friendly. There is one message board that I look at (for a trip next year) and I will not post there at all. I see how they treat newbies and it is not nice. So I am just gathering info from them. This is one of the friendliest boards I have seen, very few arguments between posters, etc that I have seen on other boards. I am not a fan of personal attacks.

lizardlover - thank you for affirming that there are lots of lurkers out there who appreciate the peaceful nature of this forum. It is ironic that this forum is really very relaxed and posters can pretty much say whatever they want - but nobody really gets out of hand. The few times I have seen new people come from out of nowhere with nasty comments, the posters here just ignored them and they went away.

If you posted more, it would be an even better forum! Thanks for saying hello 🙂 Enjoy your trip! Wow - so soon!!

(ironically, now, along with the hate mail from that other forum - which has thnkfully slowed down, I am getting tons of porn. I suspect my email address has been signed up for porn, as a prank. I've never had this trouble before. Time to turn on the filters! 🙂

Blu, FYI, I loved your trip reports and I am going to convince my DH to eat at Indigo when we are in St Thomas. (Maybe they will have your black and blue again) Of course, I have been living vicariously through everyone's trip reports. We are only going for 8 nights and 2 of them in St John so I am very excited.

"We are only going for 8 nights "

Only? ha ha - I would settle for 4 right now!

I'm bust trying to squeeze 3 nights in to be a leaf-peeper in New England week after next. Not nearly as exciting as 8 nts in Caribbean!

Blu - where in New England???

Good ?-

I prefer Maine - Bar Harbor - Acadia (whale watching). But, I cannot see myself driving up in one long weekend (11 hrs each way) and its just me and my daughter.

So, I'm thinking Vermont.

Here are my favorites:
Maine: Sebago Lake, Camden, Bar Harhor
Vermont: Waterbury Area, but I am open to try new areas
Anywhere in New Hampshire
NY: Lake George

We usually camp in State or National Parks. But, a weekend quickie might be best served via hotel/cabins. We want to see Moose and marvel at leaves.

We're going from Phila and are open to driving or Amtrak up.

Any ideas? I'm open.

Bluwater:

I'm in CT and the leaves are turning pretty quickly, so I hope that you plan your Vermont trip soon. I love the Weston area in Vermont. There's usually an art show about this time of the year and then there's the famous Vermont Country Store. I also like to go to the Weston Priory to hear the monks plus it's in a lovely setting. Not to o far to cross over to Manchester area.
By the way I have thoroughly enjoyed every one of your trip reports. You have a beautiful family and your reports are the most enjoyable well written reports that I have read. The pictures to go along with them just increased people's desire to keep reading.
I returned from a month in STJ just about the time you came down but I never write a report because I've been doing the same thing for 30 years now. Plus you wouldn't want to hear about our sailing and boat travails that we experienced this year. I do get to spend half of the month on my own and it's complete r&r for me. Look forward to a return trip in Dec. for a wedding. Just keep going back to paradise and good friends.

I agree that this forum is great ! I have been lurking on this forum since 2004-2005 and I have gained a lot of very useful information. It helped me pick where to stay on STJ in 2005 and I had such a great time that I became obsessed with the USVI and this forum. I wish that I could help people more with their questions, but I have only been there once. I hope to gain more experience by visiting many more times !
I haven't seen anything bad on this forum. I have seen a few weird posts that seem to disappear after a few hours.
I won't be returning to the USVI until 6-07. I am sure over the next several months I will be on this forum a lot and will become even more obsessed.
I love reading the trip reports and seeing the photos.
Thanks everyone!

I love Maine too - we drove up this past weekend. I absolutely love Boothbay Harbor (a bit north of Portland, but not as far as Camden) and not far from Sebago. We took advantage of a special at a hotel on the harbor right at the footbridge to town - $99/night included a full buffet breakfast.

As far as NH goes, North Conway is always nice for leaves - not sure how much color is out right now (not much last weekend), though we've had a couple of chilly nights since then, so maybe...

Vermont is nice - Norwich (near the NH line and Dartmouth College) is another favorite of mine. Okay, now you've got me thinking of something other than a return trip to the VI...

Marie,

My colleague, who is in CT, says the leaves are not only turning, but falling! Yikes!! She, too, is a Vermont leaf-peeper. is the VT Country Store a formal place? We've been to many country stores selling maple syrup and wheels of cheddar (the stores where the sleigh-bells on the door ring when you enter and the floorboards creak when you walk), but haven't noticed that they carried that name. Horseback riding?

You know I've been following your adventures since our AOL days - pre-broadband and all that jazz. Please keep us up on your perfected adventures! It isn't too late to write a report - as ccasebolt proved tonight 🙂 Sailing would be a lovely break from snorkeling and drinking - what this forum seems to have already perfected (me included).

Terri,
The fact that you are here without an immediate trip planned is proof of your insatiability over the VI. Just accept it, hon. 🙂 Don't worry about helping with what someone might call "Correct" answers, since everyone has their own opinion anyway. This beach, that beach......this island, that island....this restaurant....ya know - we debate it all the time.
Who did you go with in 2005? When might you return?

ccasebolt,
Such is exactly why we still live in the 4-season zone. This is part of the allure. Checking out your spots - since they are closer than my lofty and ridiculous favorites. My daughter has Monday off, as opposed to Columbus day as I had thought - so it looks like this weekend might be it. Prob is : can't leave til 8pm Fri nt. and can prob drive til 1AM. Weston is 5 hrs, 41 mins - so close enough and seems like our direct entry into VT anyway. THANKS! Accommodations?

Wait! ccaseboit, I do not want to distract anyone from the VI, especially as the chill approaches here!!

Blu,

The Vermont Country Store is a real place. It started as a catalog and then added a physical store. It's been around since the mid-1940s. You can shop there here: http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/

Sorry Bluwater that I can't furnish you with any accomodation ideas. I've always stayed at private homes in the area. Vermont Counrty Store is not a "real" formal place. They do a lot of mail order and some really old fashioned items-Necco wafers, teaberry gum, Tangy lipstick. Things you're too young to know or remember. But they also feature some nifty kitchen items, syrups etc. Too many items to mention as well as clothes. Just about everything. You could spend a lot of time and money in there. I love to pick up Christmas stocking stuffers. Maybe some day I will write a report. My husband and I are on island 3 or 4 times a year (we keep our boat in Coral Bay). We used to own a condo on STJ but being absentee landlords was not to our liking. When I go down alone I spend most of the time renewing acquaintances, on the beach and lots of reading. I do especially enjoy the services at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. It's a spiritual and physical retreat for me to be there.
Maybe some summer you can join the AOLers at their annual dinner. Which by the way we had at Indigo this year. The food and the company were fantastic. When you wrote about Indigo you had me wishing I were back there. Keep us posted on your trip to New England.

ccasebolt,
I love Boothbay Harbor too. It's quaint and just lovely. Being sailors we love seeing some of the old sailing boats.
We've been thinking of taking a Windjammer out of Maine one of these days.

I love the Norwich Inn (VT); not too far from Weston: http://www.norwichinn.com/

In Boothbay Harbor we stayed at the Rocktide Inn: http://www.rocktideinn.com/

Just saw the leaf-peeper report on the AM news - there's quite a bit of color in the mountains of VT, NH & ME, but less as you approach the coastline, as is typical and why we didn't notice much in the Boothbay area. The leaves are falling, in many cases prematurely, as a result of the wet spring we had this year (and probably the reason we have so many greenish-yellow ones down in our yard already). Brilliant color is expected in the leaves that remain on the trees, so a nice season is in the making regardless of the fallen/falling leaves (barring any nor'easters/wind storms of course).

My next trip is in June 2007. I will be bringing my whole family; my husband of 21 years, daughter 16 years and son 11 years. I hope to get the kids hooked on the VI too.
In May/June 2005 I went with my husband. The trip was to celebrate out 20th Anniversary. We had a great time!
The cost is the only thing that keeps me from coming more often. Soon we will be incurring College costs. I hope to visit the VI at least every 2 years if possible.
After my 2005 trip I plastered my photos all over the place (at work, on our walls, our computer wall paper and screen saver.
Yes I am hooked and obsessed and I love it!

Terri, I had misread your post - I read it as through you weren't coming back in 07. So glad that you've got plans to return soon! June is a great time to visit - winter crowds have departed, rainy May is over and the humidity of July and August hasn't yet kicked it.

Marie, Is the AOL board still going? I've run across a couple of those folks on this forum (schultz comes to mind)I'll have to stay in touch with you about the dinner. I would love to attend, wherever it is held.

dntw8up, thanks for the link to the VT Country Store. I checked out their site and was surprised at some of the things they offer, which I recall my aunts and parents having when I was young - like JOY perfume and that hair dryer with the bonnet - my mom used to use that for me. That site/and store must be a real nostalgic place for many visitors.

ccasebolt, thanks for the foliage update. I've been keeping up with http://www.yankeefoliage.com/blog/ . This guy collects the reports from all of the NE states and updates each day. As you've stated, the damp spring/early summer is causing some premature drop, but it isn't going to affect the show. Seems that the Northern third is popping reds and yellows now while the lower 2/3 shows reds and yellows mixed with green. Unless we fly to Boston and drive from there, I'm sure I won't make it to the northern 1/3 this weekend. While the coast is always tempting (Boothbay looks lovely, I checked the site for that area after you mentioned it), I have to stay focused on the goal: foliage, apples and moose - ad it has to be this weekend since this is the only 3 day opportunity we'll have.

So, Vermont it is. New problem: weather.com is calling for showers through Monday, except Sat, which they say will be mostly cloudy. Next weekend doesn't look any better - so we might have to hedge a bet that they're wrong. I gave up an opportunity to go boating last weekend bcus they called for rain, which never came. I'm less inclined to believe them now 🙂