The U.S. Virgin Islands

This is the view from our room, perched right at the top of a steep hill on the ocean’s edge, in the Point Pleasant Resort on St. Thomas, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean! The downside of this view was the incredibly steep roads and paths to get anywhere in the resort – after one day we rented a car so that we could get around! Another reason was that the resort had no restaurants offering breakfast, only one for lunch (and with not a very wide menu choice); I supposed we could have cooked, since our room had a kitchen …


Here’s our room, from a nearby road – you can see how high it is (our room is top right on the rightmost building):

 

St. Thomas was quite strange; it’s single main town catered primarily to cruise ship tourists, offering loads of jewelry shops! Elsewhere the island was all hilly with steep twisty roads, regular chances to bottom out part of the car, and a cross-section of different homes, run down areas, etc … but the views were so spectacular that any downsides were forgotten!


Another highlight was touring Coral World, with it’s sting rays, sealions, lorikeets and an underwater viewing area:


Then there was the amazing sight of watching weather roll in across the ocean – here it’s raining over part of St. Johns (another nearby U.S. Virgin island):


And, eventually, we found a nice (but tiny) beach where we could swim in the warm blue-green waters of the Caribbean ocean:

 

 

Driving in Maine

Margaret & I chose a different sort of vacation this time – 1000 miles of driving with no flights, airport delays, or other hassles!
We headed north into Maine, and spent “slow time” seeing beautiful scenery and enjoying fabulous weather! Most of our trip was up the coast, so there’s lots of pictures of harbors & coastal scenery. Such as Boothbay HarborCastineBar Harbor, and Acadia National Park.

Other great things included an out-of-the-way jigsaw puzzle store, and all the B&Bs we stayed in, the Kennebunk Plain – unusual since most of Maine is tree-covered – and the Penobscot bridge with aerial views from the top.

A great trip 🙂
(one previous trip to Maine, only as far as Kennebunkport – see here)

Sheep!

During my quick visit to England on the way to MINI United, I went with my Dad & Valerie to visit my Nan and (Aunt) Sheila – on the way back, we passed many Sheep in fields (something I still miss in USA) … so Dad turned round to allow me to take pictures 🙂