2024 SISTERS TRIP TO ST. GEORGE

Thanks to Karen for writing this whole event up.......

OUR SISTERS TRIP OF 2024—TO ST. GEORGE

 

Well, we just had a wonderful Sisters Trip--our 15^th one, I think!  (We had our First one in 2009, so maybe this was our 16^th…??). We decided to go to St. George this year instead of anywhere more “exotic”, and the weather was beautiful, and our whole time was really lovely.  It was a very nice, enjoyable trip and there were SEVEN of us who went together in two cars….(just not Lar…)    Janis and Karen left Blackfoot in Janis’ car at 7:30 Monday morning—March 11^th, and arrived at Dee Ann’s in Grantsville at 10:25.  Janis went with Kathy and Janell and got to St. George first.  Dee Ann took Karen and Ruth—picking up Darla at her home, and the four of us stopped and got food at a Burger King along the way.  I think the other three got a bite to eat somewhere along the way, too, but they arrived ahead of the four of us.

 

The day was really nice and sunny, and things got more and more beautiful as we drove along.  Hal and Janis’ daughter, Emily lives there in St. George with her innovative husband, Jim and their three darling children, and they were taking a Spring Break Trip with their kids—vacationing in Costa Rica---so they let us stay in THEIR HOME!!  It was SO NICE!!  I think they had four bedrooms in the main home—plus they have a little Casita where Darla and Karen stayed.  

 

We were really happy to see such lovely accommodations when we arrived!  The home is big and roomy with a gorgeous Great Room and a fantastic Back Yard with a pool, hot tub, lots of trees and white fence, plus a Spectacular VIEW of mountains across the way.

 

This first evening we arrived—after getting our things put away and examining our new accommodations—we decided on a fun place to go for dinner.  Emily had texted Janis a whole big list of fun places to eat in St. George—so we settled on a place with a funny name—called “Wood * Ash * Rye” and got in quite quickly after arriving.   I looked on line today to see what is said about this unique restaurant, and it says they “curate one-of-a-kind recipes that rotate with every season”…..And they indeed DID have “one-of-a-kind recipes”, and they were unusual but very tasty!!  I think we ALL enjoyed eating those expensive items much more than we figured we would!  

 

I looked back through their menu--and just to mention a couple things--I think we ordered:  buttermilk biscuits (layered biscuits served with salted butter), local salad (with baby romaine, bacon, expresso cherry tomato and rye croutons), plus house bread (country olive bread),  crispy brussels sprouts (mustard cherry vinaigrette, dried bacon, blue cheese) grilled vegetables (seasonal vegies, chermoula, lemon and maldon salt) with crispy potatoes (crispy fingerlings, pork belly, jalapenos, chipotle aioli, chorizo oil, pepperjack cheese), and hummus (garden vegetable crudite, grilled in scallion oil.)  These things actually tasted very delicious, and even though it cost each of us seven sisters $34.75 EACH—it was worth every penny and really made a memory!!  Don’t you all think?  😊 😊

 

I don’t remember what we did when we got back home Monday night, but it seems like we kinda gathered around in the kitchen and ate little goodies that had been set out on the counter by us all…  Dee Ann says she thinks she remembers Janell going out and getting in the hot tub all by herself that night, and I’m really glad she did that because that hot tub looked really tempting!!

 

The walking path going round back of Jim and Emily’s house looked really inviting, so after first getting up Tuesday morning, a nice big group of us sisters took off and went walking.  After coming back and getting ready for the day, we were eager to ‘hit the stores’, so that’s what we did.  (Isn’t that cool how I made it sound kinda like “I” was one of the Walkers??)😊

Here is a back view of Jim and Emily's house from the walking trail....

 We pretty much stayed together and ended up at Ross’ all together and at other stores, finding fun clothes and things to take home.  

 

After shopping the first half of the day, we eagerly went and had a nice lunch at Chuck-a-Rama, and all enjoyed eating to our hearts' content!  We sat in a little side room and enjoyed just relaxing and eating and talking—and being able to go get more delicious food any time we wanted.

 

That afternoon we continued to ‘shop till we dropped’, and I cannot figure out if we went somewhere to eat that night, or not….  Does anyone remember?  Maybe we had just eaten so much at the Chuck-a-Rama that we decided not to go out to eat that night....??  By the pictures I took, I see that we were at the Red Cliffs Mall at 2:00 p.m.  Then, according to my pictures, at 7:30 p.m. that night, Audra and Sebi were at the house, visiting with us.  Sebi went outside and relaxed by the pool…(or in the living room on the couch…?), and Audra sat down and watched us play a game of Probe, and ended up playing a little while with us when Ruth took a phone call.  We had lots of fun food around and continued to pick at stuff as much as we wanted, and just sat and talked till lots of the sisters changed into swimsuits and went out and sat in the hot tub.  Everyone but Ruth and I sat out there and laughed and talked for a nice long time.

 

 

Wednesday we got up and took our sweet time getting going, but some of the sisters had various things to do that morning…  Darla and Janell went over to The Skin Institute for some services.  Darla got a back treatment while Janell got a deep for facial.  The others enjoyed a slow morning and some downtime at the house. We then met up at Bear Paw Café for a very nice brunch on this day.  The wait-staff seemed to take a pretty long time waiting on us and serving our food, but we enjoyed just sitting and visiting with each other.  I took a video of everyone’s food after it was served to us, and we all seemed to really enjoy what we had—whether it was breakfast food or lunch.  (I have a very nice picture of all of us with our yummy plates of food in front of us, and I wish I could insert it here….) 

 

We wandered around in some stores, and I admired a big rhinestone ring in one of the stores, and lo and behold—it ended up becoming one of my birthday presents the next day—Thanks to Kathy Rae’s thoughtfulness! 😊  One of the stores had some cute cards with ‘interesting’ verses and one of the verses I copied down was talking about getting older versus being young, and it said:  Bifocals and a nose ring, support hoes and a mini skirt, cellulite and bikinis, varicose veins and short shorts, A walker and in-line skates, depends and a thong, dentures and a pierced tongue, gall bladder scars and a belly ring, corn pads and a toe ring, and liver spots and tube tops.   (I probably shouldn’t include that silly thing in here, but I have a Worse one that I will leave out!!) ha~😊

 

I’m sure we all shopped and continued to have a fun time doing things around St. George that afternoon, but that evening we had reservations to go to The Red Lobster, so we did and were seated in a nice place away from people (for a while) – and our waitress wasn’t very attentive to us, but most of us really enjoyed our food. I noticed Janell’s tasted pretty Awful, and she was very disappointed, but several of us really enjoyed what we ate.  I had coconut shrimp and popcorn shrimp and really loved my food. Kathy and Dee Ann ordered crab legs and got nice big plates full of them and seemed to really enjoy them.  Ruth got salmon, Darla got flounder and Janis had a bowl of soup and something else—I can’t remember for sure what it was.  We had a nice little dining experience—for the most part—then went back to the house and tried to watch a movie.

 

I say we “tried to watch a movie” because it was quite an interesting experience all in all.  We ended up calling Jim and Emily in their rental place in Costa Rica, (!!)  and they walked Kathy and others through the ‘setting up’ process until we were able to actually watch the show.  We settled on the movie “Courageous” and really appreciated the feeling the movie generated in us.  Jim and Emily have a nice big theater room in their home, so we all settled down there and comfortably enjoyed our show.

 

I think a couple of the sisters sat in the hot tub that night, while the rest of us headed to sleep, but I honestly can’t remember who did what!!

 

Thursday morning—March 14^th---was MY Birthday—Karen Hone’s 77^th!!  I noticed something interesting about the birth-dates of us 5 sisters born into the Phelps family:  When I, Karen, turn my new age in March—all five of us sisters are at that time —Four Years Apart from each other!  Karen is four years older than Robin, Robin is four years older than Darla, Darla is four years older than DeeAnn, and DeeAnn is four years older than Kathy.  So—I am SIXTEEN (16) years older than Kathy Rae!!  Interesting, eh?? 

(And of course—we do not have our dear Robin with us any longer, having lost her November of 2022.)

That morning a knock came on the door and there stood Kathy—delivering a humongous bouquet of a dozen red roses to ME—a Happy birthday gift from my dear husband Dennis!  Wow—it was really Beautiful (and I’m still enjoying it now!!)  (He was back at home in Blackfoot and had called ahead to a flower shop and a delivery girl had brought it to the door.)

 

We all gathered in the house and took some pictures of us standing in the living room before all getting in one car and going to Cedar City to head to the temple. 

 

DeeAnn drove us all in her car—six of us—but Kathy had had a bad night and didn’t feel well this day, so she didn’t come with us.  (DeeAnn wants me to mention that Janis was worried we wouldn’t make it in time because of her driving…but we made it Just fine!  And we really Appreciated DeeAnn driving us…😊) The temple session was really nice and we all enjoyed the peace and comfort we felt there—(even though we were sitting on the men’s side…) :), and we didn’t even get a picture taken of us outside, I think.  While Kathy stayed home, though, she was really busy doing odds and ends—straightening things up and getting things for ME to have a fun Birthday Party!  

 

We contacted Kathy as we rode back home, and had her meet us at the Longhorn Steakhouse where we had a delicious birthday dinner for ME!! 😊 We got in really quickly after arriving at the restaurant—right around 5:00, and as the time went along—the place filled up really fast!  Our meal was fun, and I really appreciated having it. We told the waitress it was a birthday gathering, so they brought me a nice little dish of ice cream with a delicious topping and my sisters sang Happy Birthday to me. 

 

When we left the steakhouse, we drove around and looked at the new Red Cliffs Temple. It is really beautiful!

When we got back to the house, we saw that Kathy Rae had decorated things all up really CUTE with balloons, and had purchased a delicious chocolate birthday cake and TWO kinds of ice cream for us!  So we had me a little PARTY!!  It was REALLY FANTASTIC to ME!!  (I sincerely thank you ALL for how NICE that was!!)  They all sat around the table and indulged me as I related to them a bit about how our family left Illinois and moved to Idaho back in 1960.  I rambled on way too long, I’m sure, but then we played a rousing game of Catch Phrase for a nice long time, and that was fun.

 

When it started getting late, I got really tired for some reason, so I went back over to the casita, and I didn’t pay much attention to what the rest of you did.   I washed my hair and showered and got to bed about the time Darla was coming over to join me and I figured I would head right to sleep—really quick.  But I started trying to go to sleep around 11:15 and found I was still awake at 1:03 when I received a text from Janis saying, “Is DeeAnn out there in the casita with you?”  I answered,  “No!  Is DeeAnn MISSING ???”  So Janis and I texted back and forth and Janis finally found DeeAnn asleep on the couch in the t.v. room!!  DeeAnn slept there all night long and the next day she exclaimed excitedly, “Oh My!  I slept for EIGHT WHOLE HOURS!!”   (We thought that was kinda funny!)  But all in all—I had a WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY and I sincerely appreciate all the presents you gave me, and all the attention and Love I felt!!  Thanks SO MUCH to ALL of you!!  

 

On Friday we woke up and it was no longer bright and sunny—but it was still Warm!  We gathered up our things to head home. We all packed ourselves up and waited for our rides home but before leaving we for sure got a picture out back by Jim and Emily's pool and beautiful tree that was in full blossom!

   Brad came to pick up Ruth to take her to Arizona or somewhere else for a fun little get-away to celebrate their Anniversary which had happened on the 12^th while we were all there in St. George.  Larry came to pick up Darla, too, and they had plans of staying another day or two, but both just decided to head on home and relax there. Janell rode home with Kathy but before leaving St. George they stopped at the cute Pinkbox Donuts Shop where Janell had been wanting to go before they left.  They both bought a dozen donuts to take home to their grandkids (and themselves, too;)  

DeeAnn took me and Janis home as far as her house there in Grantsville.  Janis and I went in and visited a few minutes at Kathy’s, then Janis drove me on home. (Janis and I then went to Melina’s to dinner with our husbands here in Blackfoot.)

 

Meanwhile, I forgot to mention that DeeAnn’s car left with us in it before Kathy and Janell left, but somehow as we drove on the back-roads heading into Grantsville, DeeAnn saw a car that looked like Kathy’s and she sped up till she passed it and we discovered that it WAS Kathy and Janell!!  They had somehow gotten ahead of us, and we all pulled into the homes in Grantsville at about the same time!!  😊

 

This concludes all that I wrote about the trip, and I’m sorry I left out what most of YOU guys did (girls, I mean), but suffice it to say—we had a GREAT time and I think it was just marvelous that Ruth and Janell and DeeAnn and Darla went ahead and kept with the plan of all of us getting together in St. George even though they were SO TIRED!!  They had just been home 4 or 5 days from being in Sant Maarten and Antigua for at least TWO WEEKS, so see--it was amazing that they went ahead and kept the plan of us ALL getting together like we did!!  

 

I’m sincerely grateful to ALL of you for being my sisters and for being so thoughtful and for putting all that effort into all of us getting together like that!  And wasn’t it amazingly wonderful that Jim and Emily let us actually STAY in their beautiful home like they did!!  Everything was SO NICE—and all that we did was SO ENJOYABLE!!!  Thank you!!  Thank you!!  I sincerely LOVE YOU ALL !!!!

 

                                    

Love Forever,  Karen  (the Oldest!)

ARCHES

No sooner did we arrive home from the Caribbean on the 6th of March when we turned around and the very next day made the drive to Moab for a couple of days to spend with the Boman family.  We arrived there the evening of the 7th.  On our way we stopped in Green River for dinner.  Boy am I glad that we did because we found a really great restaurant called The Tamarisk.  The food was delicious and they had a lot of in-house made desserts.  Hopefully we can eat there again someday.  It was a good experience.  We got to Moab after dark and checked in at the Expedition Lodge and enjoyed relaxing that night.  Brach and Kendra and Doug and Leesa arrived later in the night.  

The next morning (Brach's birthday) we all met up at breakfast and then headed off for the Arches Park.  We had hoped to hike the Fiery Furnace, but all of there permits were sold out, so we decided on the Delicate Arch Trail. Bridger and Cassidy and their two kids and Sage and his older kids met us up at the trailhead. (Emma stayed at their hotel with the younger ones.)  Delicate Arch trail is pretty strenuous but it was a cooler day and the kids actually loved it!  (Chloe actually walked the entire trip on her own!:)).  It took us about three hours there and back.  What a wonderful sight Delicate Arch is.  I think it is so cool to witness.  It never gets old!

Here are a few pictures at the beginning of our hike. 

On the way to the arch...

We made it!  What a sight to behold!

After the hike we had a tailgater with fresh donuts to celebrate the birthday boy!

Next we stopped at the windows arches and hiked to them.  

 It was a short hike but my knees were hurting so bad by this point I only went to the first one while everyone else continued to the second one.

After our hikes we went back to the hotel for a little rest then met up with the group at the Fiesta Mexicana Restaurant.  We were all SUUPER hungry so it was good to eat!

Brach got treated with a special dish for his birthday!😂

The kids got to pose next to the Senior and Seniorita.

The next morning we met up again at breakfast and sat awhile with Doug and Leesa just chatting.  

By the time we finished talking it was close to 11:00.  We thought we'd better get moving....

We ended up going to the Sandy Arch.  I love this little hike because 1... It's easy and 2... the kids love it!

There was a lot of sand to play on and rocks to climb.  I got to sit there and watch all of it!  The sun was shining down on us, and it felt so good!

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I got.

It's of Rafe climbing on one of the rocks.

After we finished up there we said goodbyes.  Scout, Brady and Chloe went home with us, and Rafe went with Doug and Leesa.

We took our crowd to the rock shop in Moab and then headed home.  We stopped in Spanish Fork and got some really yummy pizza which I had been craving since our time on Antigua, so that was fun!

The kids got super loud towards the end of the trip, and I had to literally cover my ears for the last thirty minutes.😐  It was a great relief to finally get home to MY VERY OWN BED!!!

It was a good time spent with everyone!  We'll try the Fiery Furnace another time:)

 

ANTIGUA

On Tuesday February 27th we packed up at the beautiful St. Maarten home and headed to the airport.  Our next destination was Antigua!  We got to fly on Winn Air, and it was a short thirty minute flight over.  

We landed in Antigua mid afternoon and got our cars and headed to dinner in St. John's.  We were all hungry, and even though it was the opposite way to our rental, we decided to get some food.  We ate at Hemingways Restaurant overlooking the busy street and enjoyed getting filled up after a day of traveling.  We then traveled to the other side of the island to our rental for the next week.  We rented another beautiful house with a pool.  This one was not as big as the other but was still really nice.  The whole back wall consisted of sliding glass doors that opened up right out to the pool, patio, table, and Brad and Ruth's room.  It brought in a nice breeze with the trade winds, so we always left them open during the day.  We had a nice view of the infinity pool looking over the inlet from the Caribbean Sea.

There were not many restaurants close to the home, unlike St. Maarten, but we sure enjoyed the emptiness of the area coming from a really busy place in comparison.  It was on a quiet and beautiful street with other, (mostly empty) homes.  We enjoyed some time in the pool even though it was a little chilly.

On Wednesday the 28th, our second night, we drove about twenty minutes to a beach bar at supposedly one of the nicest beaches in the world.  It had a lot of seaweed and some pretty rough waves.  I, for sure didn't think it was one of the nicest beaches in the world, but it was pretty.  We got some food from a seemingly limited menu and then went out to the beach with Darla and DeeAnn while Brad and Ruth went back to the house.

We enjoyed some time in the water for about an hour and then went back to the house, as well.

Here's DeeAnn getting some sun.

                                                     Rick and I enjoying the beach!

On Thursday February 29th, with Darla and DeeAnn, we drove over to Willikies to the natural bridge built by the ominous sea waves.  We walked around there for a while and enjoyed the beautiful crashing waves.

Brad and Ruth came a little after us.  Afterwards, we found a really nice beach about five minutes away (called Long Bay Beach) and enjoyed an afternoon of swimming and sunning. (no pictures of that:( 

After staying a while at the pretty beach, we decided to meet Brad and Ruth in St. John's and had some local cuisine at Alligators Restaurant.  They had delicious drinks along with tasty food.

Friday March 1st,  Rick and I had scheduled a snorkel trip on a catamaran.  It was a beautiful day to be on the water and we really enjoyed our day.

We got to pass the big cruise ships on the pier.

It is always so nice being on a catamaran.  There were a lot of people on this boat but that's ok.  I'll take it if it means I get to be on the water.  Every time we go on a boat ride I think about getting our own boat to enjoy.

Maybe someday......

We got to stop at Deep Bay Beach and swim for awhile.

We enjoyed the water!😉

After our boat ride we got back to the house in time to get showered up for a nice dinner at Rokuni Restaurant not too far from our hotel.  It had some great asian food, and we enjoyed our time there.  One bad thing that happened while we were there...  Ruth fell off a step and landed right on the floor.  What a blessing it was that she did not get hurt too badly.  The restaurant called and checked up on her the next day, which was very nice of them.

This was one of our more expensive meals, but Darla paid for us so that was ok. HAHA!  

Just kidding.  That was super nice of her!

 Saturday, March 2nd Rick and I went on a shopping excursion to St. John's.  I bought a white dress and a new white skirt plus a bell and an anklet.  Rick met up with a member of the Church who owns a shop where we were shopping.  He started talking with her because we heard the hymn, "I Need Thee Every Hour" coming from her phone.  I went off and continued my shopping spree, so we got separated but eventually found each other.  

We stopped and got some fries and rested our feet before driving over to English Harbor where the others had eaten lunch.

We met up at the Yacht Club and had an al fresco dinner overlooking the big beautiful yachts.

Afterwards, Rick and I drove a little further around the harbor and found this cute beach.  We watched the sun set and got our feet wet.  It was a nice ending to a nice day.  We went back to the house, and everyone watched "What's Up Doc" while I read my book in our room.

Sunday March 3rd

Sunday was nice.  We met up with Gloria, the the lady that Rick had met in the marketplace.

We had to get a picture with her.

We came right home and got started on our Sunday meal.

We had spaghetti, salad, bread, and veggies.

It was delish!

Monday, March 4th was our last full day on the island.  We went to the Betty's Hope Plantation, a self guided walk around the plantation ruins.  Inside the little museum there was a diorama of how the plantation looked in slave days.  It was very interesting.

After the plantation we decided to go back to Willikies for lunch.  We ordered hot dogs/burgers and of course, had to top it off with ice cream.  We then headed back to the Long Bay beach for one last hurrah!

After the beach we went back to St. John's for our last dinner at Hemingway's Restaurant.

It was a very nice evening!

Tuesday, March 5th was the day that we packed up all of our stuff from our two week long vacation and got ready to leave.  We got a few pictures of us in front of the house and out by the pool.

We loved our stay here.  The Caribbean is so beautiful and is always a good choice for vacationing.

We flew back into Atlanta for an overnighter and then got up early for our flight back home.  What a wonderful time we all had together.  It is so nice to spend time with those you love, especially when we are all in such a beautiful place!  Until next time.....

SAINT MAARTEN

Tuesday the 19th of February we started our Caribbean trip.  We left SLC around 4:00 pm and arrived in Atlanta around 10:00 pm.  We got a hotel close to the airport and got a good night’s sleep.  In the morning we flew the rest of the way into Sint Maarten.  We had been planning this trip with Brad and Ruth and DeeAnn for quite a few months and were so happy to be off on another adventure!

As we got into St Maarten we could see that there was construction going on at the airport.  We had to wait for a loooong time to get through immigration... about 2 hours.  You can see the long line behind us.  And there was one in front of us, as well.
 

We finally got through immigration and got our bags only to get our car and get into heavy traffic!😖

After driving for about a half an hour we were able to find our rental house.  It was gorgeous.  It was a white two story with all of the bedrooms upstairs. Brad and Ruth took the master bedroom, and DeeAnn took the next biggest room but did not have a bathroom with it.  She used the 3/4 bath on the main floor.  Rick and I took a smallish room but liked it because of the nice spacious bathroom just next to it in the hallway.  We had a beautiful view of the ocean, and our pool from our room.

The house had a beautiful well-stocked kitchen with doors leading out to the pool. 

 Very convenient and fun!

After getting settled we stopped at a restaurant close to the house called the Greenhouse.  We all enjoyed a good meal and good conversation!

Afterwards, we stopped at a nearby grocery store to load up on food for the week.

Wednesday morning we all got up and made our individual breakfasts and then sat and talked around the table for lots of hours.  It was really nice!

Then each car went separate ways.  Rick and I drove around the island to see the sights.  The only picture I got was of Rick and me at a fruit stand.  I bought a pineapple.  (Unfortunately, it got left in the car overnight and got too hot and ruined.)😒

That night we ate at the Buccaneer Bar right on the beach,

It is always so fun to be on vacation and eat out every night!!

Lovebirds💕

When we got back that night I was just dozing off in our room when DeeAnn came in all excited and told us that Larry and Darla's trip with Dennis and Karen had been cancelled, so Darla was coming to be with US!  We were all very thrilled that DeeAnn would have a companion!

She made the arrangements to leave the very next day to arrive on Friday afternoon.

The next day, Thursday February 22nd, I was anxious to get over to the famous Sunset Beach where the big jets fly right over the top of the beachgoers while coming in for landing.  I had been checking the flight schedule and knew that the big planes would be coming in just after lunch.  We made a plan to all meet at the Sunset Bar and Grill for lunch.

We got there and got a seat but Brad and Ruth were behind us a ways... they got stuck in traffic.  By the time they got there and we ordered our food the planes started coming in earlier than expected.  I was afraid that I was going to miss them all, so I hurried and ate my food and rushed out to the beach to see the planes.  We got to see a couple of big ones and smaller ones come in, and it was SO COOL!  I loved it!  Rick and the others were able to join me on the beach to see some of the planes come in and take off.

It was very neat to see!

I realized after getting to St Maarten that I forgotten my ball caps at home.  I ended up purchasing a visor from this "hat lady" wandering on the beach looking for buyers just like us!

After we watched the planes coming in DeeAnn joined Rick and me, and we headed over to Mullet Bay Beach.  We were able to secure a couple of chairs and an umbrella, and we enjoyed some beach and water time!

That night we got to eat at a fun restaurant called Skip Jacks right in Simpson Bay close to our house.  We were able to see right out onto the lagoon with all of the big beautiful super yachts sitting in the harbor.  We all enjoyed our meals and visiting, and before we left Rick had to get one of the waiters to reach into the lobster tank and pull out a big one!  This is a nice big Caribbean lobster!

Friday February 23rd

This was a good morning.  I had a massage.  

Rick dropped me off for an hour, and it was quite wonderful, if I must say!😀

I can't remember all that we did in the afternoon but we were excited to pick up Darla that afternoon.

Just after she arrived we found a really nice Italian restaurant over by the airport and Sunset Beach.

The name of the place was La Rosa, and the food was soooo good!  I love me some Italian food!

We all were happy with our meals. 

La Rosa Restaurant

Saturday February 24th

The next morning Rick, DeeAnn, Darla and I went out for a fun breakfast at Juliette's Bistro.

I had seen this patio Bistro every time we drove up to our house, so I was glad to finally try it out.

We enjoyed some good food and conversation!

After breakfast we met back at the house with Brad and Ruth and drove over to The Rainforest Adventures.  We were able to catch a sky ride up to the top of the mountain for beautiful views over Philipsburg.  We took a lot of pictures at the top and enjoyed the views down below.

Rick and I were the brave ones of the pack and rode the Flying Dutchman down to the bottom.

The Flying Dutchman is the steepest zip line in the world.  It drops 1,050 feet in elevation down the 2,800  feet of cable.  Luckily we were strapped in a chair or I would not have done it.  My chair turned sideways for pretty much the whole way down.😬  That made it so I did not love it as much as I would have if I were going forward.  I was happy to make it to the bottom safely alive.

                                          Darla got this picture of us coming down.

And I got this picture of her and DeeAnn coming down the slower way:)

A cool tree at Rainforest Adventures

That evening we set sail on a sunset cruise.  It was pretty laid back until people got their alcohol in them.  

It's hilarious to see how loose people get after a few drinks.

The sunset view was beautiful, and it's always wonderful being on the water.

That night we had a full moon as we were coming into the harbor.😊

The next day was Sunday.  We drove to Church which was not too far from our home and had a good Sacrament Meeting.  We also stayed for RS/Priesthood and it was great!  While we were at church we found that Wade and Paula Sandberg's son, Jase, is serving a mission on the island of St. Maarten.  They're in our stake in Grantsville.  It's a small world.  It was fun to see someone from Grantsville on that small island.  

That evening we drove over to the beach again to watch the planes land because Darla hadn't seen them.  

While Darla was filming a plane taking off, the wind from the jet's engines was so powerful that it knocked her over into a somersault right there on the beach.  Oh my goodness!  We laughed and laughed at her coming up from the ground; face and hair and dress covered in sand.  We all were covered from the blowing sand, but she really got it with the somersault and all!  Fun times!!

On Monday, February 26th we took a small ferry over to Anguilla. (pronounced an-gwill-a)

It is a British territory so we had to take our passports along and go through immigration.  We were so happy that it was an easier pass-through at the port than getting into St. Maarten.  We rented a couple of vehicles and set out to explore Anguilla.  I thought it was a beautiful slow-paced island and actually wouldn't mind going to stay for a few days.  

We found a nice restaurant (kinda spendy) on the beach, and then while Brad and Ruth set off to explore more of the island, the rest of us enjoyed a bit of time on the beautiful beach.  After a couple of hours we called to find out where Brad and Ruth were, and they were at the dock ready to get onto the ferry to go back to St. Maarten!  We decided that it was time for us to head back as well so we changed and packed up our stuff to go turn our car back in.  

 We stopped at a shop to browse around a bit, but the merchandise was too expensive.  I was hoping to find a hat and was lucky enough to find one back at the small ferry station.  After taking the short twenty minute ferry ride back to St. Maarten we found a really cute outdoor restaurant by the ferry called Rosemary's.  It had local Caribbean food and was super flavorful.  It was one of the best meals of our trip.

That ended our last day of our St. Maarten trip.  We went home and got packed up for the next day's flight to Antigua.