i would like to go back now.

before i make my next comment, let me just say that i can't believe what an amazing time we had on our honeymoon. everything went right, and the things that went a bit wrong turned out to be oh so right.now on to my next comment. holy crap it is so cold here right now and i hate it and i would like to go back to st. john now please! we're talking -10 degrees fahrenheit, with a windchill of -godforsaken degrees fahrenheit. hold me.because this is what it looks like where i just spent the last week with my Mister Man:yea. would you want to leave that place to return to the tundra? i didn't think so. this was the first time that either of us had ever been there, and we had so much fun having adventures together all week. the great thing about st. john is that you can have whatever type of vacation you want. you can spend the whole time lounging on the beach, you can spend all week hiking, or you can spend your time exploring the island by jeep. we did a combination of the three. and it was glorious.we went hiking to some beaches on the west side of the island at the beginning of the week. this is a view of the main town, cruz bay, from the top of the hill.the first beach we snorkeled was called, ever so appropriately, honeymoon beach. so obviously we got a photo there. i also got to witness poor MM trying to get his snorkel mask to stop leaking water every two seconds. what a trooper! (also: hey erin's bangs. you don't like to be wet, do you?)we hiked a little further that day and came across this sight: a feral donkey! there are apparently wild donkeys on the island, according to ALL the locals who nonchalantly told us this was true.they also have these lizards everywhere. i almost stepped on one the first day, and almost wet my pants at the same time. wooo nature!this is trunk bay, always voted one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. it happened to be raining the afternoon we visited and the snorkel trail was closed due to big waves, but did we let that stop our fun? no. because body-surfing happens to work best on big waves.another day, we got really brave and decided to rent a car to drive ourselves to some of the more remote beaches on the island. why brave? you might be asking yourselves. i say that because even though st. john is a us virgin island, they drive on the left side of the road. also, i don't think there are any rules on how steep the roads can or cannot be...none at all. this beach up above, little lameshur, felt like our own private beach it was so quiet. the water was so clear, and we snorkeled all morning. we even saw two sea turtles!it was so remote, we almost lost the courage to go as we were driving. these are not roads! these are just rocks you are allowed to drive on!we also did tons of hiking the day we rented the car, and had just the best time. it was one of my favorite days of the whole honeymoon. a big part of that was miss lucy's, a tiny roadside cafe on the east side of the island. this is a gem of a place if we ever saw one.for one, this was our view at lunch. just awful. almost made the 40 minute wait for the food unbearable.for two, this was maybe the best beverage i've ever tasted. i think the snorkeling and salt water heightened my taste buds, but either way, i felt total bliss while drinking this. it was the husband's idea to order. big props.for three, you guys, this spicy tuna taco came out of a tiny kitchen in a roadside cafe on an island. could have been from a five star restaurant. i can't stop thinking about it.for four, this is what our grouper reuben sandwich looked like when we got it.this is what it looked like - no joke - 8 minutes later. 2 minutes after that it was long gone.see above re: heightened tastebuds.we ended our brave trip with a swim at some other beautiful beaches (i say that like any of the beaches could be ugly.) i found this and couldn't resist a photo.the rest of our days were spent lounging with the lizards on the westin beach. and because we like to save our money, this was our little pantry we set up in our hotel room. vacation groceries all day, errday people. also, licorice, because i think it's a rule that you have to buy licorice for vacations? can someone fact check that for me?this six-pack of beer was supposed to be part of the pantry. but gosh darn it if the humidity didn't do some damage to the bottom of that six-pack. and that six-pack decided it was going to fall down and go boom.and Mister Man was sad.then we eventually had to leave, and it was terrible. goodbye st. john! you've won some forever fans in us two crazy newlyweds. we will be back. and if you could please not change even a little bit in the meantime, that would be just the tops.if you've made it this far, good for you. i'll be writing about the boat trip we took later this week, because it deserves its own post, if for nothing else than the photos of me sailing the boat by myself with a coors light in my hand.

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