Surprise!

While Michael was in Seattle this week I bought him the 1200 c Anniversary addition Harley-Davidson. This just so happened to be the last bike of it's kind in Utah. Someone had a hold on it but with a little persuasion I was able to buy the bike. Harley only made 3200 of these bikes and each one is numbered... Michael's is 1352 or 1356, i don't remember which. Michael was mostly in shock. The first thing he said was where did you get that bike??!! Apparently he'd called every dealer that morning trying find this very bike only to find out all of the bikes had been sold. Aiden was sitting on the bike when we opened the garage door to park the car, when Michael got out Aiden shouted "Happy birthday Michael!!!!!". Not sure who was more excited about the bike, Michael or Aiden ...

Day 7 in Saint Thomas

Today was an early day; we got up to take the tour at St. John. Neither one of us had a good sense as to what kind of tour it would be. We boarded the ferry at 8:45 am with about 39 other people, mostly couples. We were the last 2 on board and were stuck with a seat with no view. The ride lasted about 20 minutes.

Upon arrival we were less than impressed with the town of St. John; it looked like so many other streets in St. Thomas. We boarded the tour bus and as we moved away from the center of town we were finally seeing what we had expected throughout the trip, Lush green foliage on both sides of the road, with occasional breaks where we could see the ocean below. So many white beaches and resorts below a stark contrast to what we had seen for the better part of our trip in St. Thomas.

We stopped at the sugar mill which was over 300 years old, we took only a short time looking around but it was very interesting and was able to get a few pictures.

After re-boarding the bus we headed off to Trunk Bay. We had both been looking forward to this part of the tour as we were going to be snorkeling, finally. We had to listen to a short informational speech but then we were off. As neither of us had been snorkeling in many years we had a bit of a struggle getting our masks fitting correctly. Off we went, hand in hand, the fish were amazing, the coral and rocks below were really something to see.

Mind you after several hours of this we were pretty tired, and I must tell you at least one of us put on sun screen, but we were both burnt to a crisp at the end of our adventure… back on the bus we went. A short time later we arrived in town again, starved to death and ready to eat we were very disappointed to find that only the shops selling goods took our credit cards. We looked at several shops so we took a short time looking around before we headed back to the boat docks.

The ride back was a bit better than the one there, we were able to sit outside this time which was a bit more refreshing and the scenery was great. We got sprayed occasionally by the water and about ¾ the way back it started raining.

Arriving back at the room tired and still hungry we were delighted to find an invitation to the GM’s reception. We decided right away that we would attend. We got ready and headed out once again. We were both a little confused as to how this was going to work as it was basically a cocktail hour with food. Well we ordered Diet Pepsi’s and filled our plates. We met a nice couple and after a little while we decided we should move on to dinner.

Our last dinner at the resort was very nice. We got a window seat once again at the “Windows on the Harbor” restaurant. What we thought was going to be a bad time ended up being perfect as the sun was setting as the clouds were clearing from the rain. We forgot our camera this evening but hopefully the pictures taken on the phone will do the evening justice.

Our bellies full and now back in our room we sadly started to pack our clothes up for the long trip home. We leave at 8 am and after a short flight and a long layover head to st Louis at 7:30 pm tomorrow night.

The trip and the island have been great, we hate to leave it but both miss every one so much and are looking forward to seeing everyone again.

See you all soon.

Day 5 in Saint Thomas

Today was a beautiful day (of course, we are in the Caribbean!!) We slept in today very late then lounged around our room and did a little homework – Michael started school at the beginning of the month.

On today’s agenda was to see Coki beach which is a popular place to snorkel. We had somewhat low expectations going to Coki based on our experience with Magen’s beach. Coki was much worse lol, we didn’t dare get out of the car. We decided to head over to the Ritz-Carlton for lunch. We shared a burger and a banana daiquiri (rum free of course) it was really quite good. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach right there on the Ritz-Carlton resort which turns out to be a perfect place for snorkeling however we were a little late getting there and the Dive shop had closed for the day so we have plans to go back tomorrow. We have decided that we are resort people all the way and have no need to experience the local flavor lol.

We had a fabulous dinner tonight right at the Marriott resort!! We decided to try something new and ate and the “Windows on the Harbor” restaurant. This was the most romantic place we have dined. We had a candle light table looking right out over the harbor. We had shrimp cocktail, salad and filet mignon. It was FABULOUS!!

Day four on St. Thomas

Today we woke up at 7am (5am MST) to listen to a time share presentation. We are sold on the time share and want to buy one – we just have to wait til we have the moolah. The main reason we did it was for the free trip to St. John’s which we will do on Wed. stay tuned…

After the timeshare presentation we picked up a rental car so we could explore the island. Driving here is interesting because you are driving on the left hand side of the road but the cars aren’t oriented for it like in Ireland or England. In addition to driving on the “wrong” side of the road, the roads are windy with steep hills and sharp turns. I started to feel dizzy – same way I feel when I get off a roller coaster.

On our agenda today was to go see Magen’s beach which is one of National Geographic’s top 10 rated beaches. It took us long enough to find it given that there aren’t many signs and the few signs that they do have are way off the side of the road almost out of sight. We finally found it and had to pay $4 each for non-resident admission and $2 to park the car. We were worried driving through the parking lot but were sure that the beach would be much different but we were wrong!! We were both very surprised that everyone who’s been here highly suggested Magen’s beach let alone that it was rated one of the top ten beaches in the world. The sand had all sorts of debris from the trees in it. It is definitely the place for the locals. There were about 5 parties at different pavilions with music blasting. We were both a little worried about getting mugged or robbed. I convinced Michael to stay for 30 minutes and after 15 agreed to leave J

We ventured outside of the hotel tonight for dinner and a place called Mim’s. We both had King crab it was a $110 meal which was on par with a meal from red lobster but it was the best meal, in my opinion that we’ve had here on the island. Most of the food here is deep fried and fatty. I was expecting more tropical food like fruits, fresh seafood, tropical drinks but not the case.

I was eaten alive tonight – you’d think I have the chicken pox . It is really aweful….

Here Comes the Bride!!

Today is the day I became Mrs. Michael Thomas! It was such an incredible day today. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. It has been about 85 degrees here during the day which feels really hot especially coupled with the humidity, today it was about 76. Michael was very supportive while I had an anxiety attack trying to do my hair this morning. Since it is so humid here my hair won’t hold a curl which is really funny because when it gets wet all it does is curl. We finally got the hair situation figured out - I had to use an old tooth brush to get rat it to give it a bit of body.

Our wedding coordinator picked us up at our room at 10:50 am and handed me my bouquet. We walked across the beach to a seclude part of the beach called rock beach which is where they do all the beach weddings at the Marriott. Our photographer was there waiting for us and took some shots of Michael while we waited for the officiator. The officiator arrived shortly after and began the ceremony. It was an incredible feeling to have my toes in the warm, soft sand, with the ocean waves crashing in to the rocks behind us with the smell of sweet tropical flowers in the air while gazing into Michael’s big beautiful brown eyes. It was very intense and emotional making our vows and I had to choke back tears. Once the officiator pronounced us Man and Wife Michael swept me up into his strong arms and kissed me – very romantic!! Then we had cake and sparkling cider as we toasted to our life together. This is a day I will never forget. We brought our video camera however you can’t hear much and the photographer walks in front of the camera several times… nothing a little video editing can’t fix

We spent the rest of the day just enjoying each other!! We finished the day with dinner at the Blue Havana right on the beach- it was also very romantic. Anyway we are having a great time! Wish you all could have been here to see us get married!

St Thomas Updates!!

After 20 hours of traveling, we finally made it to Saint Thomas!! What a journey to get here – From Salt Lake City to Dallas, from Dallas to Fort Lauderdale, From Fort Lauderdale to San Juan Puerto Rico, From Puerto Rico to Saint Thomas!! We had a 3 hour delay in Dallas which was nothing compared to 5 hour overnight layover in Fort Lauderdale. We had a friend “hook us up” for a night stay at a hotel in the area however when we called the hotel at 1am they couldn’t find our reservation.
At about 3:20 am we found a corner in the airport and took a 1 hour power nap. The airport was freezing cold and we didn’t bring jackets – go figure it is summer and we didn’t realize the AC in the airport would feel like the dead of winter. We woke up an hour later due to the cold and saw that security was open. We moseyed over to the line and finally got a blanket the last hour we were in the airport. We slept through the flight to San Juan and had 10 minutes to get to our flight to St. Thomas. It was a 27 minute flight and a 30 minute cab ride to our hotel. We got a gorgeous room at the Marriot Frenchman’s Reef at the morning star resort. We got a garden room with a partial view of the ocean according to the hotel staff lol. I guess if we bend over the railing from our deck we can kind of sort of see the ocean. We spent the first 2 hours catching up on sleep and finally woke up due to hunger pains. We got up and got some lunch at a little café called Coco Joes on the beach. We then spent the rest of the day on the beach. Michael had a blast fighting the waves but if you ask me I think the ocean won. Michael got tossed back and forth and into the beach several times. We had a blast! Later we took a stroll in on the beach and did some star gazing…. Very romantic.

Today we took the ferry into town for light shopping and to make a quick stop at the court house for our marriage license!! The courthouse was easy enough to find and it was very exciting to finally get our License. Even though everyone raves about the shopping here and all the great deals we did not find it to be all that great. Had we had more time and a hell of a lot more money we might have found it more appealing. Downtown St. Thomas is very dirty and every now and again a breeze passes through and you can smell nothing but raw sewage.

The hotel is gorgeous and there are lizards everywhere and every time we pass by Michael can’t help but stop to get a closer look. There are millions of iguana’s here and they are huge!!


We are having a great time here and I am so excited to be finally getting married!! Just 11 more hours before we say “I do!”

We wish you could all be here enjoying the tropics with us.