Finishing The National Park Bucket Item- #59 Virgin Islands National Park

Ready to board the ferry

Headin' to St. John

We had planned a trip to St. John the following today. Brian and Janelle had indicated that they would like to accompany us as we visited our last national park. This trip would get us all on a ferry ride, a visit to the park’s visitor’s center, and some time milling around Cruz Landing on St. John before returning back to the condo. Sounded like a plan to us.We caught the 1000 ferry from Red Hook to St. John and arrived 20 minutes later.

It's what's for breakfast!

We had a wonderfully delicious brunch at Cruz’s Landing Restaurant which is adjacent to the park and ferry terminal. The bloody maries were flowing and the omelets were sumptuous. We were delighted. We walked to the visitor’scenter and jubilantly entered to the surprise of the staff.

Hey Sadie, you're everywhere!

St. John..... FINALLY!

After stating our mission and accomplishment they moderately warmed up to us. The ranger was not present so we were a little disappointed that some thunder was going to be stolen from our moment of glory.
We stamped the passport book, and Brian and Janelle, so moved by our accomplishment, purchased their own passport book and collected their first stamp. We’ve inspired another generation! We were halfway through viewing the exhibits when the park ranger showed up. Understanding the park system, she was

Thanks for hanging in there, sweetie!

We DID IT!

awed by our achievement. Jane had prepared a certificate, knowing that none would be provided, and had the ranger sign it. She told us that she had encountered people

Capt. Lar, gettin' the stamp!

who had visited all 59 of the parks, but we were the first that she knew of that had completed their quest at this particular park. We pondered this a while and realized that, with the addition of Pinnacles N.P. in 2012, there

Ranger Leann signs our certificate

was a very high probability that we were indeed the first to complete 59 (others may had done this with 58) at Virgin Islands N.P. Maybe we should get a plaque or something…..

Everyone's happy

We talked with Ranger Leann, who hailed from Atlanta, for a while and decided it was time to move on. Before we left we asked the receptionist if we could leave a message for our friend, Dr. Diane Pick. Those who have followed this blog will remember us meeting

Ain't Jane just precious?

Diane in Alaska, and then seeing her in Ushuaia, Argentina as we were both leaving on separate expeditions for Antarctica. Diane was staying with her niece in one of the park’s cabins and we had made arrangements to return to St. John for dinner with them the two days hence. We wanted to verify the time and meeting spot.

 We left the park and walked back to Cruz Landing where Jane headed off to do some shopping, while Brian and Capt. Larry had some more drinks. Capt. Larry decided to purchase our return tickets to avoid the last minute rush. As he was walking back to where Brian was, he spotted a familiar person. Jane had finished so he took her hand and led her over to a bench where Diane Pick was sitting. Unbelievably, she had her phone and a piece of paper with our numbers on it and was trying to call us as we found her! We celebrated our reunion and got to meet her niece when she happened upon us. The distances we have traveled and met are hard to imagine. We fixed our plans for dinner, caught the 1400 ferry back to Red Hook, and returned to the condo where

Getting ready to enjoy the beach

Brian and Janelle fixed us an outstanding grouper dish with Italian mustard potatoes for dinner. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching TV.

Janelle was interested in visiting the Baths on Virgin Gorda, BVI. They had checked out the ferry schedule and decided to do a day trip. We weren’t sure about the physical demands the Baths would demand and felt they should have some private time together, so we opted out. It was Sunday and the NFL playoff games were on, so we decided to split our time between our beach and the TV. We picked Brian and

Saying goodbye

Janelle up at the terminal in the late afternoon. The overall trip took longer than they expected, because they had to clear customs in St. John. We had happy hour and dinner and called it a day.

We finished our morning exercise the next day and returned to the condo for brunch with Brian and Janelle.

A wedding on the point

They would be returning to the land of the cold (but victorious Buckeyes!) on a mid-afternoon flight. After brunch, they decided they wanted to spend some final time enjoying the beach. When it came time to leave, we loaded their bags and drove them to a local market so they could pick up some duty-free items to take back with them. We said our goodbyes at the airport and parted ways.

Happily married

We headed back to the Tutu mall to pick up a few things that we would need, and the rest of the afternoon on the beach, watched another wedding on the point by the pool, and had happy hour on our balcony. We finished dinner and spent the rest of the evening reading and listening to music.