Hi everyone from frozen Minnesota! This is weird writing a trip report rather than reading one. Thanks to so many of you on this board for providing us with the info to be able to find many of the best things to see and do on the island. Now I get to tell you all about it. We had planned this 20th wedding anniversary trip for months. We booked Winsome House Villa in Coral Bay through Destination St. John back in September. It was fairly new and looked like a quiet, private place to "rekindle" something.

Day 1 (2/6); our flight leaves MSP at 5:00AM much to the chagrin of my wife, Maureen. I am thrilled because I know we will arrive with enough daylight to see a few sights and not have to drive to Coral Bay in the dark (on the left side of the road). I had been sick with the flu for the entire weekend but made a last minute recovery for the trip. What a relief! Mo (Maureen) mentions at some point during the flight that she feels "a bit off". Uh OH! But I can't be slowed down at this point. The flights were all on time and we arrive in STT at 2:30PM, hop a cab for the Red Hook ferry and arrive on STJ around 4:30PM. Peggy from Destination St. John greets us and we head to the car rental for our Jeep Liberty, which we loved. At this point I looked over at Mo who appeared to be 2-3 shades of green. I signed for the Jeep while my wife found a quiet place to lose her lunch and we all started off to Coral bay via Centerline Road. I didn't care much for Centerline Road. We wound our way over the mountains until we hit Ajax Peak Road, just near North Shore Road and the Smoothie Stand. We went up a steep, paved incline and down a just as steep dirt road. Then back up a very steep paved road to a ROUGH, ROCKY path. A hard right to a road that you can't see over the hood of the vehicle. Down we drove and up again on a paved road to a switchback to the right and down to our driveway/parking spot. (we often times chased goats down this road when we turned in). We got out of the Jeep to the most beautiful view I had ever experienced in my 46 years of existence, Coral Bay and Hurricane Hole from 900' up. Poor, sick Mo cried!

We settled in briefly and took off to get a few groceries at Lily's Market which had everything we needed. Mo's job was to remind me to "keep left." I did just fine except for one near head-on collision. After getting a few provisions we stopped at Cocoloba for a drink. My first painkiller - Mo's 7-up. We made our way back to the villa (mostly on the left side of the road), checked in on our kids and headed to bed. I think I may have slept 3 hours. I left all the doors and windows open and was it noisy! I heard goats, cats and roosters and God knows what else all night long. I woke at first light to rain and vowed to place a bounty on the head of any rooster.

Day 2 (2/7); It quickly cleared and then rained some more, while Mo was out cold in recovery. But it didn't bother me. I cranked up Bob Marley on the CD player and found a copy of "Feet, Fins and 4WD" in the villa and found even more to do on the island. Meanwhile, Mo slept. After Bob Marley finished I blasted Jimmy Buffett. Mo slept. After Buffett finished I played something else. I sat in a lounge chair next to the pool and took at least 40 pictures of the view. While Mo slept. Even in clouds and rain and partial sunshine each snapshot turned out beautiful (while Mo slept). One of my favorite photos was from this morning. A silvery, monochrome, sunrise view of Hurricane Hole. Around noon I told Mo I wanted to go into town. She actually joined me and we made a B-line for Skinny Legs (mostly on the left side of the road). We got the last parking spot near Skinny's and waited 10 minutes for a table. I had a great burger and ate most of Mo's Mahi sandwich (the best I had on the island). Something was very odd about watching the winter olympics in February on STJ. I finished my Red Stripe and took off for more exploring. We found a beach or two - one was in front of Shipwreck Landing. Very pretty! Mo managed to keep up. We turned around and went back to Winsome (mostly on the left - this is where we almost died in a head-on collision,...HOLY SH__!) Up the mountain we go. Down the rocky road. Coral Bay and Hurricane Hole. What a view! Mo has made a miracle recovery! We preen for dinner, take off for Cruz Bay down Centerline Road, get tailgated for 15 minutes (did I tell you I "HATE" Centerline Road!) and arrive in a near traffic-jam looking for a parking spot. As we say in MN "YOU BETCHA!" We actually found a spot 20 minutes later in front of the Nat Pk Hq. We walked into a few places I had heard of and put our name in at Morgan's Mango. We sat at the bar (I had my first Bushwacker) and I met a couple, from of all places, Wisconsin. Very nice! Mo met an older man who had lived on STJ for 40 years, a regular at Morgan's. I wish I had hours more to speak with him!. Good food. Great Music. A great start to our vacation.

At 9;30PM we started back to our island home via Centerline Road (I really detest this road!!!) and close every door and window in the villa so that I can sleep, blissfully! I did.