St. Thomas: Day 1

First, for all of you who expressed "concern," for lack of a better word, about me abandoning my blog now that I have twitter-- WRONG. Heck no, peeps. Honestly, I don't even get the point of twitter, but I thought I'd give it a try. Plus, my friend in St. Thomas is really hard to get ahold of for many reasons, and he has twitter, so I thought it'd be another way to keep in touch. Anyway, I'll abandon twitter before my blog, so have no fear, I'm here to stay. For better or for worse. Whether you like it or not.

Speaking of St. Thomas, I'm trying to decide how I want to blog about the trip. I feel like one post is going to be really long, but who knows when I would have time to get a second post up about it. Let's just see where this takes us...

Two weeks ago today, I arrived in the Caribbean, stepped off the plane, and was offered a shot of pineapple rum. Why, don't mind if I do. Clearly, this is the way I'd like to start any and all vacations, so I pretty much knew from that point on this trip was going to be epic. And epic, it was.

View from the plane. Obsessed with the water color.

My friend Colleen was there for the first four days and I'm 99% sure we laughed the entire time, starting in the cab on the way to the ferry where Pete was picking us up. We took a group taxi (read: 15 passenger van) and were packed in like sardines. The poor people who rode with us were probably hoping for a pleasant trip to their hotel where they could enjoy the scenery in quiet. Fortunately, they were good sports, and cracked jokes, too. Like the dude who said, "Rule number 1: no flatulence," and the old man who referred to our van receiving the middle finger as being given, "half a peace sign." We finally got to the ferry and I was so happy to get out because oh. my. god. the roads in St Thomas are terrifying.

Pete then rolled up in his Sidekick. Not familiar with a Sidekick? You should be. It was awesomely hilarious and I probably could've put it in my suitcase and brought it home with me and not gone over the 50lb weight limit. It's like the SUV of Smartcars. See:

Not Pete's car, but close enough. Yes, the top comes off.

We drove for about 5 minutes and then were at his apartment, also known as heaven. His apartment wasn't anything fancy, but my word, the view? To die for. I stared at it for a few and couldn't believe I was actually there. We hung out for a bit then went to dinner at this awesome place called Fungi's (that's fun-gee, not fun-guy) that served delicious local cuisine and had a killer setting literally on the water.

Un-zoomed view from Pete's balcony. Nazareth Bay, St. Thomas.

Insert awesome thing about St. Thomas #1: You can take open containers into restaurants and finish them there. Pour a glass of wine before you left the house? Take it with you (why, yes, that means you can also drive with open containers) and finish it at the restaurant. Do you know how much money I could save if every restaurant in the world allowed that? I have a glass that holds an entire bottle of wine (called the Magnum haha)! I'd never have to pay 7 bucks for a glass when I can drink a whole bottle for $10 and, essentially, take it with me.

Yours truly, Pete, & Colleen, with our open containers ha.

After dinner, we headed back to his place, changed clothes, then went out to the bars in Red Hook. A bar called Duffy's Love Shack has ladies' night on Wednesday's, meaning ladies drink for free. In theory, that is. You see, us girls (3 of us) started with vodka & a mixer, Pete had beer. Girls for free, Pete paid, like, 2 bucks a beer.

Insert awesome thing about St. Thomas #2: The drinks are hella strong. Picture a solo cup. Pour liquor. Keep pouring. Keeeeeep pouring. Now stop, about 1/4 from the top. Now splash a little soda or tonic in and serve. Strong & cheap, what could be better?

I'm really not sure when we made the decision to do so, but at some point, we decided we all wanted shots. Tequila for me and another girl, jagerbombs for Colleen and Pete. By the end of the night, we had racked up a bill of $93.50 in shots. WHO THE HELL SPENDS $93.50 ON LIQUOR AT LADIES' NIGHT?!?!

Me & Colleen

Miraculously, 3/4 of us woke up not hungover. Yes, that includes me. Pete was able to get approval for Colleen and me to spend the day at his place of work... which just happens to be the Ritz Carlton (cue angels singing).

View from the Ritz Carlton St. Thomas- looking at St. John in the distance.

Ok, I'll stop here for now because you're probably bored at this point. I was there for 8 days, this may end up being an 8 post series hahaha. Oops.

*except for the car, all pics are mine (sorry for the lack of editing). Don't steal them.