November 18

10 days ago, WHILE IT WAS STILL DARK, I got to go through airport security in Atlanta. Whee! Actually, I was following my sister Stacie and she picked a line that just had the regular ol' metal detector. So no pictures or groping for us. Thank goodness. I was not yet awake. And the dude at the metal detector told me to "Stop" just before I went through. So I did and looked up at him. He then said, "Hammertime." So at least some of the TSA people have a sense of humor. I laughed and told him, "Not at this hour of the morning!"

Here is the view that I had for most of the flight down:

And the clouds finally started to open up a little as we got closer to our destination and I started to see islands like this:


And then one like this:
(I need to get on google earth and figure out what island this is...)

And we finally landed in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, for my first time in the Caribbean.
My sisters, our cousin Tracee and I have been planning this trip for over a year now and were so excited that the time had finally come to GO.

Stacie waiting to get on the ferry from Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas to Cruz Bay, St. John.

Chrissy in front of the harbor at Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas.

The sun was setting as we took the 40 minute ferry ride from Charlotte Amalie to Cruz Bay.

And we finally made it to St. John. We had dinner at a restaurant close to the ferry dock, lugging around all of our ...um... luggage.

Stacie and Chrissy by the harbor at Cruz Bay. St. Thomas is in the background.

After our delicious supper we took an open air cab to Cinnamon Bay. That was one scary ride. I think we were on two wheels during one curve. And it was dark so we didn't even have the scenery to take our minds off of our terror.

We finally arrived at the campground and checked in. Then we got to navigate over rocky ground, fording creeks along the way in the dark, to our cottage. Then we got to finally dump our stuff and head out to the beach. It was just beautiful in the moonlight...

I sat out there for as long as I could stand the bugs munching on me. After returning to the cottage, my sisters and I sat around and tried to stay awake for our cousin's arrival. We succeeded, but barely (at least on my part).