Thanks to all the various boards for letting me lurk & ask questions. Our trip wouldn't have turned out half as well without travel boards!

Day One- Left home for Dallas/Ft Worth airport with DH, two grown male children & one boy's long-time girlfriend at 5:00 a.m. and thinking to myself that for once I had remembered everything. Wrong, as you will see! Flew to Miami & transferred there to St Thomas. Contracted with Dohm's water taxi for transport from airport to Red Hook where we took the water taxi to St John. We decided to go this route because it would be more convenient & we might get there quicker. Arriving at the airport, I realize that I forgot the telephone number for Christopher Taxi & Dohm's (forgotten item #1). Taxi no where in sight. After 3/4 of an hour or so, we finally find a guy waiting in a different area, which we had checked a few times already, holding a sign with our name. Seems like Christopher Taxi contracted with Ricky to pick us up. Arriving at the water taxi, I realized I had neglected to tell Destination St John that we would be arriving in a slightly different area than the ferry dock. Had the water taxi driver call Destination SJ & tell them, but the person who was to pick us up didn't check her phone message & she was waiting by the other dock area. After waiting another 1/2 hour for her, she finally showed up & we all piled in her car along with luggage & my son's girlfriend sitting on his lap. Maybe it would have been faster catching a regular taxi & taking the ferry! Destination SJ rented the car for us & we had told them we had 5 grown people & needed the Jeep Liberty. Arrived at St John car Rental about 5:00 & were really tired, hot & anxious to get to the villa. We jumped in the car & were told to come back in the morning to sign the papers. Never noticed that the car we were driving was a Suzuki. The scenery on the way to our villa, Treasure Ridge, was incredible! It was located really high up & getting there was an experience we will never forget. I think most everyone had their eyes closed. I couldn't because I was the driver, but I did notice my DH clutching handles & dashboard & stomping his feet on the floor thinking he had some control. Silly man!
Treasure Ridge was as perfect as it gets for us & our budget. It was fairly new & had wonderful views. The oldest boy who is single had his own bedroom on the lower floor & he loved his secluded area. We all admired the views, said goodbye to the Destination lady & plunged into the pool. It was the only time we used it! In the pool we watched the sun set & thought about driving down the hill in the dark for dinner. No way! I had brought some frozen food in a smallish, wheeled cooler & we decided to make the best of it. Unpacking the cooler, I realize (forgotten items #2) I did not have the bag with all the lunchmeat & cheeses I froze. Nor did I have the bagels or bacon. Oh well, we will get supplies at the grocery in the morning. Our wonderful management company left us a great basket of goodies on the counter, but it attracted weird ants & it took three days to slow the migration of these tiny things. I said slow instead of stop because if any tiny crumb was left on the counter, they came back. The main area of the villa was not air conditioned & it was pretty warm even at night. We were all glad to get into our cool rooms to sleep.That was when I realize (forgotten item #3) I had no toothbrush. Plan for tomorrow, get up bright & early to go to Trunk Bay to snorkle.

Day two- The kids had never been snorkeling & everyone had their own gear. We thought Trunk would be the perfect place to start & we were right. We woke up early, but the kids were still asleep so DH & I went into town to sign the car papers. Going down was so much easier! When we got to the car rental place, I asked them why we didn't have a Liberty. She didn't know we were supposed to have one & then a young man came through telling her we really had reserved a Liberty. She said they did not have any because the one we were supposed to get crashed into the stairs by the door as it was being returned. We were told to return by four that afternoon. Now, this was Saturday, October 1st & we had read about the demonstration that was to take place. On the way to the rental place, we could see a few people starting to congregate in the school sports ground area. Went to the store, bought expensive supplies ($6 milk) & gathered our courage for our solo run back to the villa. Made it back with some minor tension & packed the car with our gear & food for the day. Back down the hill with the kids smashed together in the back seat. As we enter town, trafic is heavy & we realize the demonstration is in full swing. Just as we round the corner by the school the police (man there were police!)stopped us to let the parade of demonstrators go by us into the arena. Afterwards we navigated our way around town & off to Trunk Bay. Great day & plenty of sun & water. Took great photos. Coral was wonderful & plenty of fish. On the right side of the cay, there were thousands of minnows that were attracting tarpon about 5 ft long. What a cool experience. We had never encountered anything that large. Had a wonderful time & came back around 4:00 to exchange cars. Well, they had the car ready for us except we had to sign a new contract & to make a long story short, we paid for a day with the Suzuki & then 6 days with the Liberty which was the same price as a week. I argued a bit about having to pay more when it wasn't our fault, but my family just wanted to get going. What's an extra $70 in paradise. Back up the hill for dinner & a beautiful sunset. Unknown to us, one of the few sunny days ahead.
More to come...