Travel | Peaches Prattlings

{January 5, 2024} Alright, alright, I’ll tell you where we spent the end of 2023 and rang in 2024!

The USVI! Yup, you heard right, that’s the United States Virgin Islands! Even threw in the BVI! British Virgin Islands. Not a bad way to spend the holidays and ring in the new year!

When we started planning our end of year trip, we thought about all the places we were interested in going. Two years ago it was Mexico, warm weather, beaches, mountains, sun, sand, and tequila, what could be better?! Last year, it was England, three weeks of adventure, tours, exploration, and family, that was pretty darn awesome! Are we alternating cold for warm, cold, warm, cold, warm? Hmmm…Actually the funny thing was last year it was warmer in the UK than it was in the states! Last year we were actually on target for Puerto Rico and a hurriane hit, we’ll get there one day. This year, we were close, distance-wise, we decided on the USVI.

If I tell you the week of December 18th was a tough one for concentrating, I have a feeling you might believe me! I had to teach a few classes that week and the fun fact I shared…going to the USVI! A few people gave me recommendations, but Thursday…it was tough! Best part of Thursday…actually Wednesday into Thursday…SDL and Miss A stopped by on their way to visit her folks for the holidays, how lucky was I?! I actually got to spend a bit of time with them last year, this was a great ending to the year!

We headed to Philly on Thursday evening, we were crashing at a hotel because for some reason, we thought a 541am flight was the way to go! There is definitely something wrong with us! ha ha. We found the parking lot, that was an adventure, grabbed an Uber to the hotel, got some dinner, so not worth it, but we were starving, showered, and set the alarm for 3am, UGH….they recommneded we get to the airport 2-3 hours before the flight, you know me, I’m a ‘by the skin of my teeth’ kind of flyer, but that’s when I’m solo, and it’s not right before Christmas. It’s a good thing we were there by 345a, the lines were crazy, but…we weren’t checking a bag, thank goodness, the line was ridonculous! Gotta love TSA pre-check! Board the flight, layover in Atlanta, grits for breakfast, yum! Next flight…there is an island in our future!

Both flights were uneventful, thankfully! We got a taxi to the hotel, this was the start of learning how things were going to go. Taxis are not inexpensive and…they charge per passenger, not per trip, interesting, no Uber or Lyft on the island, ok. The roads…well, keep your eyes open, and if you get motion sickness easily, um…might be better to be in the driver’s seat…the roads are not that wide, the speed limit seemed like a suggestion, and they drive on the left. There are signs everywhere ‘Keep Left’ done!

The room wasn’t quite ready so we went put our slippahs [flip-flops, sandals] on, and walked to the beach on the property. The sand was lovely and the water felt amaing. The first thing we always do is stand in the water and take pictures of our feet in the water. ahhhhh….

We had been traveling for a while, it was about 2p, time for sustenance…food and drink. We’re in the USVI, where some of the best rum comes from, what do you think the first thing PSM wanted was?! We went to Sangrias Beachside Bistro. Cover over head, sand on the ground, no walls, and a view of the beach, what more could you want?!

Food, that’s what we wanted, food and drink! PSM’s goal on this trip was to eat fish, fish, and more fish! PSM had ahi tuna nachos, and I had a tropical spinache salad, water for me, and a sangria for PSM, that was the name of the restaurant, after all! A delicious lunch and a few drinks later, we walked on the beach, talked to the concierge, and booked our first excursion, a catamaran for Sunday, talk about hitting the ground running!

By now, our room was ready, we hitched a ride on a golf cart up to the room, we had our luggage with us. That was the first time we hitched a ride and on our last day was the last day we hitched a ride, we walked the steps, the steps, the steps to get to our building and room! The room was charming, very beachy vibe. Seafoam colored accent walls, white walls and white exposed beams above, balcony overlooking the beach.

We stayed at the Elysian Beach Resort, it was a little away from things, a bit quieter, good location, not far from Red Hook, I’ll tell you about Red Hook and the next part of the trip in the next post. We got settled in, put our traveling clothes in the closet, we knew we wouldn’t need the long pants, long sleeves, and heavier outer layer until it was time to leave, ok with us! Unpacked, didn’t take much, a few pairs of shorts, tshirts, bathingsuits, and snorkel gear, done!

We walked around to check the resort out, sat on the beach for a bit, talked about where to go for dinner. Right onsite was a place people told us about for fish, the Caribbean Fish Market, not an inexpensive establishment! But could you beat the view?! We didn’t have the best bartender/server, that was a bummer. I know it was busy, but maybe acknowldge us, smile at us to welcome us, when PSM asks for a rum drink that’s not all sugary sweet, suggest something instead of tossing the drink menu at us? Maybe that’s asking too much.

Despite all that, we had a great time, we were together, we were on an island, the weather was perfecet, and we weren’t at work, that makes for a great time! We ordered a few appitizers: brussel sprouts, eggplant frites, and a flatbread with brie, pear, and arugula. Y U M! That flatbread lasted us two nights!

We talked, drank, started to relax, and just enjoyed each other’s company. We often talk about what a great life we have together and the life we’ve made, it’s not too shabby and we can’t think of anyone else we would rather spend it with. Sounds like a win-win!

After dinner we sat by the beach, it was probably about 20 feet from the restaurant, enjoyed the breeze, and the sea air that was kissing our skin. Again, not a bad life we have! Eventually, we decided to head back up to the room, up, up, up the stairs. I will see if I took pictures of all the steps to get from the room to the beach! We got our stpes in for the day for sure!

Back in the room, no plans tomorrow, we’ll think about it tomorrow! We’re on vacation!

And that friends, was day one of our USVI trip, not a bad way to start. I can’t wait to tell you more! But for now…going to say goodnight and crash! Coming back to reality…even a short week, feels like longer than a 5-day week! Aloha my friends! Happy Fri-yay!

{January 26, 2021} Naps are so underrated!

When you’re a kid, naps are part of your day, it starts when we’re babies, we go down for naptime, then we grow a little and we go down for naptime, I still have memories of being in kindergarten on my mat for naptime.

Then…as we grow, we fight naptime, afraid we might be missing something, we fight it, but we succumb. Then, we get a little older and napping is for babies, we don’t do it, we rest our eyes, we’re not napping. In college, we’re taking a break in between classes, but we’re not napping.

Then…as adults, we look at little kids and think…you don’t know how good you’ve got it! I would kill for a nap! There are cat naps, which are very short naps, longer naps, not sure what those are called! There are so many classifications of naps! Where to begin? Or end?! Have you ever taken a nap, woken up and not realized where you were, what day it was, who you were? Oh, those can be the best sometimes!

I remember growing up, when my family had a summer house on Long Island, we would go to the beach and I never slept as well as those naps in the sun on a beach blanket or towel on the sand. The sound of the ocean, the feel of the spray, the warmth of the sun on my back. Yes, I know it sounds like a movie or an advertisement, but that’s what it was like and I can tell you…I have never slept as fabulously deep and well as I did those summers, or since. We know I’m not a sleeper, but there are times the beach still manages to call out to me!

As we’ve talked about, I’m not a sleeper, I’m not even a napper really, but…there are times when my body just says “Hey!” and honestly, I don’t hear another word because I am unconscious! Today was one of those times. I was at my desk working on something and I realized I wasn’t focusing and I’m not 100% sure which end was up and I said to myself, ‘you need to lie down’ and I did. Well, not right there, I got up, walked the very long walk, about 10 feet, ha ha, to my bedroom, closed the door, got under the covers, and, as much as I would like to say I was asleep before my head hit the pillow, it took a few to get there, but when I did…I slept like the you know what. I woke up about 90 minutes later and I thought I had missed a whole day!

It took me a few minutes to realize where I was, so I sunk back into the bed and pulled the covers up over my head. Isn’t that the best feeling? When you sink into the bed? There’s nothing like it. Eventually, I picked up head up and tried to focus, this wasn’t one of those naps you wake up so refreshed that you could run a marathon, come on, who does that anyway! This was one of those naps that, honestly, I’m not sure if, at this particular moment, I have truly woken up from! I feel like I’m still a little groggy, and that was about four hours ago!

I think everything finally caught up with me…the lack of sleep last week, and lets face it, most of the time, altitude in Denver, skiing, the crazy long drive back from Colorado and only getting a few hours of sleep last night. That was some nap and…between you and me my friends, I’m thinking about sinking into the bed and going back to wherever I was! I don’t have far to go…I’m in my jammies, sitting cross legged in bed, under the covers with the ceiling fan doing it’s thing to help combat the flannel sheets I am enjoying right now.

When your body tells you something, like maybe you need a few zzzzzz’s, you should listen. And friends…that’s what I’m about to do, I’m going to listen to my body, my eyelids are getting heavy…you’re getting sleeppppppyyyyyyyyyyyy….

{January 26, 2021} Goodbye Colorado…Missouri…Um, I’m trying to get there!

I really am trying to get home! As much as I didn’t want to leave Colorado, I almost never do when I visit, I did want to get home to my family. Apparently Mother Nature thought it would be funny to make my 12+ hour drive a 14+ hour drive, not funny.

I actually slept later than I had all week, go figure! Every day that I had wanted to sleep past 7/7:30am, no dice, this morning, I got up at almost 8am! And…this is the day I wanted to leave a little earlier, maybe by 8am so I could take advantage of the daylight for driving. I didn’t set an alarm thinking I kept getting up early, but no dice. So…the plan was to leave between 8:30 and 9am, just like I had when I left St Louis for Denver.

I got on the road, no issue, then…apparently it had snowed, and snowed a lot, outside of Denver, the entire state of Colorado, then Kansas, and if you’ve ever made that drive, you know both states seem to go on fore…ever!!! There was snow on the ground, in the fields, it was white, white, white! There were some places I couldn’t see ahead of me or on either side of me, then it would clear, ahhh.

I filled up my gas tank and it was just slushy, but when I pulled into the first rest stop along the highway, not only did I inch my way up to the house, I actually had to put on my waterproof winter boots with the fur because the snow was at least 6 inches in some places and a foot in others. Pretty to look at, not fun to walk in, with Chucks on!

Some of the roads had snow and some ice on both lanes, other areas it was clear on one side, where the trucks had been driving over the road. I loved when cars or trucks would go by and slosh my car with wet, grey snow, thanks a lot! This was a drive that had to be made carefully for a lot of it. There were a lot of electronic warning signs up along the highway.

There were some areas that were absolutely beautiful and some areas, well…even snow couldn’t make it pretty!

I have to say, I’m glad I didn’t wash my car after skiing on Friday or even Sunday. I knew I would be driving and thought about getting her washed before I headed out this morning, really glad I didn’t. Almost every rest stop and gas station, I was getting the packed snow out of the wheel wells, washing the windshield and wiping as much of the ice from the car doors. Fun! Bottom line, she will be getting a bath this week in St Louis!

Now, you’ll love this…or maybe it’s just me. And that was pure sarcasm…At some point during the week, the driver’s side washer fluid nozzle seemed to stop working…the passenger side is fine, driver side, not so much. So…if I crane my head to the right, I can drive looking out the passenger side! HA HA! I did a lot of window washing, let me tell you! Then…somewhere around Topeka, KS, I turned on the wipers, they swished and the driver’s side wiper FLEW OFF! really?! I promptly found an Auto Zone and $70 later, I am now the proud owner of a pair of Rain-X Quantum Wiper Blades, huh? I don’t remember them being so expensive, but they are! And really expensive for something that only lasts about a year and a half! But…I really like the Rain-X brand, and they are on snug as a bug in a rug, so I am quite happy and when I got home…they are still on! HA HA

I was tired of the food I had been munching on for the week and decided to stop for some grub. There aren’t a lot of options for me, but I know I can get a sandwich at Subway, I have always liked their veggie patty, and then I started to want one. I stopped at no less than FIVE Subways along the road, the first…the toaster was out. I would have asked about the patty, but you have to cook it, so no dice. The next location had just closed, and they just started closing earlier the day before. The next two locations didn’t carry the patty and the last location, the girl behind the counter had no idea what I was talking about. Sigh…vegan ham and cheese it is! At least my stomach stopped grumbling!

Back on the road, munching on my sandwich and listening to a podcast or some comedy on Pandora radio, I didn’t get tired until about 11:30p, I had effectively been on the road about 12+ hours at that point and I had about another 2 hours to go. I was doing alright and didn’t start to get tired until about midnight and at that point, I was so close to home, I wasn’t getting a hotel. I did, however, stop at almost every rest stop and every few gas stations on the way!

Best part…pulling into my driveway, walking into the house, peaking in on the fur babies, who had noticed that I was home [I had to ignore the whining! SO hard!], putting on my pjs and crawling into bed, pulling up the covers and…zzzz…

{January 23, 2021} Treat after Treat after Treat after…

What a day today was, it was treat, after treat, after treat! I admit it, I’m spoiled, and I’ll take it!

Since I couldn’t get a reservation to ski for the day, I made other plans. First… last night I pulled down the blackout curtain, hoping it would help me also in a little. Well, any guesses how that turned out? It’s all good, more time for me to do nothing! Ha Ha!

I thought about going to a yoga class or doing a virtual livestream class and then I thought about something PSM said, you’re skiing, you don’t have to do yoga, true, but I thought it might help, who knows. Then my body said, “um…yeah, you’re good, take it easy” and I listened, go figure! I laid in bed, turned on the tv and vegged out, it was fabulous! Then I got up and made myself an egg sandwich, moved to the couch and continued my relaxing journey! Not a bad way to start a Saturday.

I decided to be a little productive, checking emails, updating a friend’s resume, and making plans for the day, all while relaxing, that works for me! My friend texted that she loved that I had no plans and I have to say, it is refreshing to not have plans when you’re visiting somewhere. It all depends where you are and what you’re doing, right? I used to live in Colorado, there is a lot that I did, but there is also a lot I haven’t done and depending on what it is, I want to share it with PSM. This time, I’m only here to ski and see friends, and since I have the pass and I’m not that far from the mountains, take it easy.

I finally got motivated and headed out the door for my first treat of the day. I drove downtown to see LJ, she has a great apartment overlooking Denver and the view of the Flat Iron Mountains is fabulous! She shares the apartment with her boyfriend JS and their kitten, Steve. OM G, what a doll baby! Cutest little orange tabby with a lot of energy and a name tag that might be bigger than him!

We sat down and talked and talked, about everything and nothing, and just like all our conversations it went all over the place, par for the course, of course! All the while Steve took turns biting my toes and fingers, pouncing on me and other things, and settling in next to his mom’s side happy as can be. Oh my am I getting my fix!

After a bit, we looked for a place to go and LJ is one of the friends I have who tries to go vegan with me, a lot of places we called had a wait and we decided on…Edgewater Public Market, I’m in! She’s been there a bunch and her yoga studio is there, same one PSM and I go to, which means…next time we travel to Denver, we can go to our yoga studio! She went off and got pizza and I got a vegan chicken Caesar salad from Meta Burger, another hit! I told her about my dinner from last night and she had to get a side of the vegan mac-n-cheese, she was not disappointed! And we talked some more, we can do this for hours, wait, we are!

Then…another treat! We both saved room and went over to Happy Cone for some vegan gelato for me and full on fabulous ice cream for her! We were both quite pleased. It’s a simple ice cream shop, ‘New Zealand style creamery handmaking ice cream, chocolates and happiness’ is the tag from their website. I believe Hap Cameron, the owner was the one who scooped our treats, I could be wrong, but it sounded like a New Zealand accent when he spoke…through his mask!

Then we sat and talked some more, go figure, then a strange smell wafted by and despite the masks, we could still smell it, it was probably someone’s food as a few people walked by, but it was time for us to get some fresh air, so we went to the outside heated tent and sat at a recently cleaned table and talked some more. I mean, when don’t we talk!? I’ve told you this before, one of my favorite things about my friends is that we can sit and talk about everything and nothing and it’s always as if no time has passed. Eventually, sadly, it was time to leave. I took LJ back home, we said our goodbyes and hugs and headed off in different directions. Looking forward to the next time!

I called AM and we worked on dinner plans, that was the plan after all, hang with friends! He called in an order at City O’ City, I think we’ve talked about it before, but I la la la love this place! I placed my order for ‘chikn’ n waffles. The chikin’ is fried cauliflower, not to worry, the waffles are actual waffles! It’s served with vegan creme fraiche, maple syrup, and carrot bacon. We also had seitan wings for an appetizer, y-u-m! There was a vegan pizza, and for dessert…a ho-ho cupcake and a whoopie pie. Let’s just say, if you come with me to Denver, I’ll take you to City O’ City. I’ll tell you how good it is…the first place LJ asked about getting lunch…City O’ City! Oh yeah!

I picked up the food and headed to AM’s house, it was AM and his daughter…AM! Ha Ha, his wife NM was at their house in the mountains, I was bummed not to get to see her, we kept missing each other this weekend. It was a great time! We talked school, a teeny bit politics, books, movies, podcasts, it was quite the dinner conversation!

When the younger AM went to bed, AM and I retreated to the den, popped in Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan‘s first movie together, Joe Versus the Volcano then spent the next 1.45 hours talking movies, discussing almost every movie on the wall, laughing, disagreeing, agreeing, howling, taking moments to actually watch some of the best parts of the movie. I think I’m going to have to dedicate an entire post to this movie, it is probably one of my all-time favorite, same for AM. What a great night, it really was, I’m still laughing!

What a day for me! Treat, after treat, after treat, after treat. I am spoiled and I’m ok with that! What’s next?!

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