Sunday, June 21

Arrival in St. John and Overwhelming Slices of Grilled Pizza

Travel to St. John is now complete. I'm officially living in the US Virgin Islands. I must admit, I love my life right now.

The flight in from Chicago put me at home by midnight. From midnight until somewhere around 4:38am, I did laundry and re-packed my bags, this time for St. John and the US Virgin Islands awesomeness. I slept for about an hour and was happy to have Hokie with me curled up at the end of my bed. I'll miss her while I'm away.

I woke up tired, as can be expected when running on 1 hr of sleep, and headed for the airport. I arrived with plenty of time to spare and initially scoffed at the idea of using curbside check-in. I proudly tried to lift my heavy bags and proceed through the double doors. The Sky Cap for Delta was irresistibly nice. He helped me wheel my bags back to the curbside check-in, skipped me to the front of the line, and handled my bags for me really quickly. As I prepared to leave the young man behind, he reminded me that Gratuities were appreciated.

About 12 hours later, I finally arrived at my house in St. John. The two flights, taxi, and ferry went a little bit like this:

An overworked and snappy flight attendant for Delta warned me my carry-on was far too large and it would likely be rejected at the gate in Atlanta. Why would it get through DC on a small plane and not out of Atlanta on a larger plane? It's a carry-on. I got anxious and nervous about having to check my bag last-minute at the gate in Atlanta, of course. What happened? I got to Atlanta, carried on my bag, no problem, no comments, it fit in the overhead bins just fine.

I landed in St. Thomas. There has never been a flight where the passengers have been so unanimously excited to be on the ground and pointing out the window. As the guy in the seat next to me pointed out, this would not happen upon arrival to somewhere like Cincinnati. The couple sharing the row with me on the flight from ATL to STT were on their honeymoon. What a cool place to visit for a honeymoon!

We got a flat tire while en route to Red Hook via the taxi. Flat Tire! Honestly, the guy was going to try and fix the tire and then take us to the ferry dock. The wait would have meant missing the 5:00pm ferry and having to wait until the 6:00pm ferry. Based on my flight time, I should have been on the 4:00pm ferry... so having a delay and standing in the hot beating sun wasn't looking like a great time. Fortunately, another Taxi saw we were in distress and offered to take 4 passengers on to the ferry dock. Thank goodness! I made the 5:00pm ferry!

On the dock at St. John (STJ), I collected my things and headed for the street. I found Keith and we big each other a quick hello before making the walk towards the visitor's center to load up his truck with my things. As I tried to figure out all the cars driving on the wrong side of the road, I navigated the sidewalks and streets, passing several wild chickens. The clucked happily down the street, bobbling their necks along the way. Keith drove me from Cruz Bay and pointed out several points of interest along the way. Lind Point, where I should be living in about two to three weeks, is a nice area with duplex housing overlooking the ferry dock. The music plays in the bay below and carries up to the windows of these homes, often until 3am. While one could consider it a free stereo (my perspective), others find it to be somewhat of an annoyance. We drove on, through the park, along the North shore, stopping at a few overlooks to snap some photos of the amazing scenery. I really enjoy the density of great photographic scenes that fill the twists and turns of the roadways and island's perimeter.

We drove deeper into the park and finally arrived at Island Fancy. That's right. The name of my house is Island Fancy. It's even spelled out in a cast iron fence at the end of the driveway. The residence is arguably the best housing in the park. In fact, I'll have to move out in about 2-3 weeks so the new deputy superintendent or chief ranger can live here. Very cool. The view from Island Fancy is superb. Located at Maho Bay, right near the campgrounds, there is a sense of quiet and serenity here. I hear the birds chirping and the bugs buzzing, all hours of the day. As soon as I had arrive at Island Fancy, I met my roommate, Beth. We'll be roommates the whole 12 weeks that I'm here in STJ. She's already been here about two weeks, working as a Transportation Engineer, through an organization that works with the National Parks. After taking some time to settle in, Beth and I set off for Lind Point, where several rangers and park service folks have a weekly Pizza cook-out on Sundays. It was awesome to meet several Lifeguards, some Law Enforcement guys, a park ranger or two, and get to know them better. I even ended the night with a new facebook friend, Tom, one of the Law Enforcement Rangers.

The pizza was delicious and I'm very excited to know I've got a weekly fun event to add to my calendar. The long drive back, a little after 9pm, took a decent amount of time. I asked Beth and confirmed it takes about 30 minutes to get from the Visitor's Center to Maho Bay and Island Fancy. Quite the trek. It's just over 6 miles, I think.