The Final Countdown!

So yesterday was the one week marker of when I have to leave.  I leave on Tuesday, July 30th and I'm truly not ready to say goodbye. So in honor of the week I have left, I'm living it up here in St. Croix. This means for this week, I'm cracking open a beer at 10:00 and not even feeling bad about it!

On Friday, we were busy little bees. We used our coupon that we won from Crab Races to go to mini golf.  We had so much fun! I haven't been mini golfing in FOREVER, so it was tons of fun! Jeff won by one point! (I'm going to win next time, so that challenge is ON.)

 After we went mini golfing, we decided to go to the bar/beach at the resort where mini golf is held.  We ended up just swimming, reading, and hanging out at the beach for the majority of the afternoon.  It was a super fun and relaxing day at the beach! I wanted to do something nice for LBF (aka Jeff), so we headed home and got ready to go out to dinner.  We went to dinner at a place called Above the Cliff.  It's a restaurant that is, you guessed it, above a cliff.  There was live music and it was super bumpin'. It was tons of a fun and a great way to end the day!


On Saturday, we headed out to the Farmer's Market and to the Chicken Shack.  We wanted to go to the Farmer's Market and go there in the afternoon.  We got there around noon and everyone was getting ready to go home.  We asked for next time when we should get there and they told us 4 in the morning! We won't be getting there that early, but we hope to get there earlier next week! We bought some bell peppers though and we're excited to cook with them this week!

After the Farmer's Market, we walked over to the Chicken Shack.  Jeff told me that this restaurant is the place that locals (called Cruzans) love to eat! Basically you pick a meat and it comes with rice and a salad.  You can also get Johnny Cakes, which are like fry bread. (I'll take a vat of them, please!) It was absolutely amazing.  There was no way we could eat it all, so it was great because we had tons for left overs!

Chicken Shack amazingness!

On Sunday, Jeff and I went to Eat for brunch.  On our way, we took the scenic route. Here's a few pictures from the drive.  It was gorgeous and the views were unreal! I can only imagine how amazing it would be to live up there!

One of my favorite pictures!

We arrived at Eat, which is hands down one of my favorite restaurants in the world.  Jeff and I ordered the Build Your Own Eggs Benedict. (OMG, it was amazing!) We also had our new favorite drink: Caribbean Sunrise. It's mango rum, guava rum, and passion fruit juice. Just wait until I come home and make you one. You'll love it! We headed home, took a little snooze and got ready for the rest of the day.

That afternoon, we got ready to go on the Sunset Sail! We got to the boardwalk and met up with the company we were going with.  It was pretty crazy because when we showed up, it was Jeff and I and about 30 Danish friends.  They were super fun and very nice.  We ended up sitting next to a family with a four year old friend and a 10 month old adorable baby girl.  I was in love instantly! The sunset sail was so much fun and when the sun finally set, it was breath taking.  It was absolutely gorgeous to watch from the water. Here are some pictures from the sunset sail!

Hotel on the Cay: This is where we went for Caribbean night on Tuesday!

Monday was filled with lots of fun with the puppies! We sunscreened up and got the pups and headed to the beach! We went to Ha' Penny beach and it was awesome because we were the only ones there! We took the dogs on a long walk and let them play in the water.  I can say that Christmas is not a fan of the water...at all! But we had tons of fun with the puppies and it was so awesome to have the beach completely to ourselves! Here are some pictures of our day of fun in the sun!

Christmas sitting down in the car...for once!

Nothing like a boy and his dog.

On Tuesday, we met Brendan and Nicole in Fredrickstead for breakfast and paddleboarding. We met at a bakery and had a light breakfast.  Then we set out for paddleboarding.  Jeff went before but the rest of us had never been.  Basically, it's like a mix between surfing and kayaking.  You get a paddleboard, just picture a big surf board, and a paddle.  You get on the water, kneel on the board, then stand up.  Then the fun part is where you paddle yourself around.  My arms, abs, and legs are SO sore today! The lady who runs the shop and gave us the lesson was RIPPED and now I know why.  It's so much fun and seriously an amazing workout.  I didn't fall off, but of course, I fell when I was getting off and getting on the beach. (What a typical Chelsea thing to do!) Here is a picture of the amazing Hawaiian Shaved Ice we had after paddleboarding.  It was totally what we needed after! (Plus, it had rum inside. What more could you want?!)

Orange Dreamsicle with Mango Rum....YUMMY!

Paddleboarding was so much fun and I might be a little addicted! It was great! We came back, ate lunch, and had beers with Brendan and Nicole.  We were feeling exhausted after paddleboarding and lunch so we came home and took a nap.  We got ready to use another one of our crab race coupons!

We won two tickets for the buffet at the Hotel on the Cay.  They have a Caribbean night every Tuesday with steel drums, etc.  We went, we ate, we got sleepy.  Jeff had to work early so we had to go home.  But it was tons of fun, but I was too full and comatose that I couldn't snap any pictures!

Today, Jeff had to go to work super early.  We're planning on meeting up with Brendan and Nicole again to go to the casino and the crab races again! This weekend, we're going to finally hike the tide pools, go to brunch at Norma's with the beer drinking pigs, and tons of more activities!

I leave St. Croix on Tuesday and Jeff is coming with! We're back in Phoenix on Tuesday night and leaving for California on Thursday morning to go to a wedding! We're planning on spending Friday and Saturday in LA and going to Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland before I have to go back to work. It's gonna be a busy next two weeks!

I GOT CRABS!

Hello, friends! I'm sorry it's been so long since I've last updated! Time is going by too fast here and I can't believe I have to leave this gorgeous and amazing place in a week and a half! I'm not ready!

Anyway, this past week has been filled with lots of random activities! Jeff and I realized that we only have six days left together (days he doesn't have to work) so we're going to try and fit as much stuff in as we can! But I'll get to that later. I'm sure you want to know all about the crab races!


On Wednesday, Jeff got off work at around 2 and we got ready to go to the crab races! The crab races are held at the Divi Carina hotel and casino.  We went with another pilot that Jeff knows and his girlfriend.  They go every Wednesday and are hooked!

So we get to the crab races and I had no idea what to expect.  Basically, you go up to the people that run the raceuts, Tito and Sue, and you pay $2 a crab.  (They find the crabs every two weeks, use them for the crab races and then release them.  They're just small hermit crabs that you can find all over the island!)  You get to pick out which crab(s) you want and then name them. Jeff and I bought $10 worth of crabs/5 crabs and then his friends gave us some too, so we had 8 crabs overall.  Here were there amazing names: Nigel, Sheena, Christmas, Commander Muffin Top, Forrest, It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere, Clinton, and Shelly. So Sue and Tito put the crabs into two buckets and flip the buckets so that they can be easily lifted up. The crabs just have to cross the finish line and the first two that cross it get taken out and put into the finals.  It's absolutely hilarious! Sue plays the kazoo to start the race and then the buckets are lifted and the crabs are off! 

Four of our crabs were winners and made it to the finals! Nigel, Christmas, Sheena and Forrest were ROCKSTARS! We ended up winning a bunch of cool free stuff! We won a round of mini golf, a kayak tour, a gift certificate to a restaurant, and tickets to a buffet/show at one of the other hotels! If you think about it, we paid ten dollars and won all of that fun stuff! Needless to say, I want to go every week! It's hilarious! Here are some of the pictures of the crab races!

Sue starting the races!

All of the crabs!

The final eight crabs! (We had 4 in the finals!)

On Thursday, I didn't do much! (I'm totally okay with that!) I took Jeff to work bright and early and set out to run some errands on my own. I went to KMart and Plaza (the grocery store) which was a pretty big deal because I'm still a little nervous here when it comes to driving. Not much else to report for Thursday.  I made dinner and picked up Jeff. A nice, quiet, relaxing day! :)

On Friday, we slept in and then headed to the beach! We ended up taking both of the puppies, Christmas and Diesel, and they had a great time! We threw some Coronas and snacks into the cooler and just hung out all day! So relaxing and much needed! Here is a picture of Christmas with my sunglasses.  She wasn't as into it as we were!

We thought it was a lot funnier than she did!

Saturday was a pretty lazy day, too. We just hung out at home.  We were scheduled to do a sunset sail, but they didn't have enough people, so we got rescheduled to a different day.  We decided to get some lunch and do some shopping. I ended up having a little too much of the rum punch and went home and was asleep by 6:30pm. Jeff and Kevin went out for gyros and were kind enough to bring me some home. (I didn't wake up until much later, I guess I just can't hang.)

On Sunday, we went to Angry Nate's for breakfast.  This place is on the boardwalk which is right by Fort Christianstead.  Jeff and I had a lot of fun walking around and Jeff played tour guide since they were out of brochures.  It was really cool!  After we got our history lesson, we decided to go to one of the hotels, Tamarind Reef, and do some snorkeling.  When I was here for Spring Break, Jeff and I went to Tamarind Reef and did some kayaking. You can go from the hotel's beach and go to a little island, Green Cay, and walk around on that little island.  We decided to just snorkel on this trip though.  We had a great time! There were so many fish that were just beautiful!! AND WE SAW A SEA TURTLE!!! Obviously, the highlight of the snorkeling trip. (I think I'm good luck for seeing turtles because the last time we went snorkeling we saw a turtle...but that's just me.) We had dinner at the Deep End restaurant and stayed on the beach until sunset. It was the perfect way to end the weekend!

The view from Fort Christiandstead!

A fun fish we saw at Tamarind Reef!

Look at this beautiful guy!!

Shout Out to Jeff for these amazing underwater pictures!

On Monday I didn't do much.  We hung out at home before Jeff had to go to work.  Unfortunately, Jeff realized on a drive in his car, that the brakes weren't working so well.  He finished his day at work and made it home safe.  Not much to report on that, but just glad that he made it home safe and the car went to the shop the next day!

On Tuesday, we took Jeff's car to the shop.  (Cross your fingers it'll get fixed soon!) After that, we went back to Angry Nate's for breakfast. (I might be a little addicted.) We went home and Jeff got ready for work.  I stayed home and caught up on some Netflix.  Nicole (one of the other pilot's girlfriend) invited me to go out for dinner and drinks.  We ended up going with another pilot that's staying with them.  We went to Coconut's, which is in Fredrickstead and right on the beach.  I told Jeff that we were going there and on his last flight home, he flew right over the spot we were and had to show off. (Typical boy, right?) I have to admit though, it was pretty cool to see the CapeAir plane and actually know who's flying that thing. We had a great time watching the sunset and Jeff met up with us after he got off work.  We headed to this amazing pizza place, The Lost Dog.  We had awesome pizza and played darts.  It was a great night!

Wednesday I took Jeff to work at the lovely hour of 5:30am.  I dropped him off, came home and took Christmas on a walk.  (We needed some bonding time.) Then I came home and hung out and caught up on chores. 

Christmas is ready to go for her walk!

The view from our walk!

Later, I picked up Jeff and we decided to meet up with Nicole and Brendan to do the Cruzan Rum Tour...again.  It's free and they give you alcohol for free...how can you say no?! We had a great time, as always, and stopped for some french fries at our new favorite place to stop after we go to Cruzan.  I'm officially in love with Cruzan rum and I'm going to bring so much home!! (It's only eight bucks here for a fifth! Can you believe that?!)

After we went to Cruzan, we came home and got ready.  Jeff took me out to a really fancy and wonderful dinner at a restaurant called Savant. We sat outside in the courtyard and had a delicious meal with yummy wine! And if I do say so myself, very romantic. (I found a keeper here, folks!) Here are some pictures (not taken by me) of where we went to dinner.

We ate out here! So beautiful!

On the agenda for this weekend: Hiking the tide pools, Sunset Sail, brunch with the beer drinking pigs, and much, much more! Stay tuned! I promise to update earlier next week! :) Love to you all!

Party in the USA...I mean, Puerto Rico!

Last weekend Jeff and I left for a fun weekend in Puerto Rico! (The whole time we were there, I was singing "America" from 'West Side Story') AND, I'm also not gonna lie, it's pretty cool to be able to leave and take a fun weekend trip whenever you want...fo' free! (The perks of Jeff's job! Ha!)

On Wednesday morning, we left for the airport bright and early at 5:30! Jeff works on Wednesdays until 2, so I took the first flight out of St. Croix to San Juan. Jeff kind of psyched me up for the flight.  He wasn't the pilot, but he kept asking me if I was a nervous flyer.  In the end, it was totally fine and I was worried for nothing!! I got to San Juan at around 8am, and basically just waited in the airport for the day.  We were a little nervous because it was looking like Jeff might not be able to get to San Juan since most of the flights were full, but eventually (after a few too many mojitos at the airport bar) he got to San Juan! We met up with another pilot at the airport who were were going to stay with and got the keys to his apartment so we could drop off our bags.  We walked through San Juan, walked on the beach, and finally found a place to eat.  I was exhausted from being at the airport for so long (such a princess) and we went to bed pretty early.

The first day in Puerto Rico...had to take a beach pic, of course!

 
On Thursday, Jeff and I set out for Old San Juan.  We went to this place right downstairs that had the most amazing breakfast and the most amazing bakery.  (I would be in serious trouble if I lived there!) We caught the bus to Old San Juan, which was really fun.  We got to Old San Juan but of course, I was having problems with my shoes. We found a Starbucks and then found a Foot Locker where I bought some cute shoes that would hopefully be more comfortable.  We did some souvenir shopping and then headed to Castillo San Cristobal, which was an old fort.  It was so much fun to walk around and it was HUGE! We were there for a good couple of hours! It's crazy how big it is! Here are some fun pictures from Castillo San Cristobal! :)

 After we were good and exhausted from walking around (it was SO hot!), we decided to cool off and get some fro-yo! I had been seriously missing fro-yo and was so excited that Jeff knew a place to get some! Here's a picture of our amazing fro-yo! It was that good!

It makes me want some fro-yo right now!

After we cooled off, we set out to see more of Old San Juan.  I just love the streets and how colorful everything is! All of the buildings are different colors and the streets are all cobblestone.  It's absolutely gorgeous and I wouldn't mind living there! I tried to take some pictures to capture how pretty the streets are and I also found a few houses that I wouldn't mind living in if I did HAVE to move there.

Of course, I found a cute feline friend...I wanted it so badly, but Jeff said no.

Future home option number one.

Another contender for one of my future homes.

We did some exploring and some shopping and then went to a pizzeria that one of the other pilots in San Juan recommended.  I know, you're thinking, 'Really? Pizza? In San Juan?' YES.  It was amazing. We ate, drank some beer, and stayed in the cool air conditioning.  It was a great way to cool off. We then headed to the birth place of the Pina Colada! So much fun!

Please excuse how sweaty we look...it was a LONG day!

We were searching for a place to watch fireworks, but sadly, San Juan wasn't doing fireworks for the 4th of July, so we ended up meeting up with a few pilots from San Juan and getting some margaritas.  (What better way to celebrate America?!)

On Friday, we got up bright and early and headed out to pick up our rental car.  We said goodbye to San Juan, and set out to go see more of the island.  It was such a great idea to get a rental car! We could've flown from San Juan to Mayaguez (on the other end of the island) which would have been faster, but it was so cool to drive because we got to see everything and just stop and do whatever we wanted. One of the things that Jeff really wanted to do was go to the Arecibo Telescope.  (pause for nerd alert) Okay, okay, it was really freaking cool! It's the largest telescope in the world. THE WORLD. They also filmed three movies, including "Contact", there and have discovered so many things there! Jeff and I geeked out in the visitor's center for a while and learned a bunch of really cool space stuff. Then, they take you to watch a video about the telescope.  Then, they take you out to see it.  It was HUGE. I can't even begin to tell you how awesome it was, so I'll just post the pictures.

I have to admit, this was a pretty funny idea. I'll give the BF some props for this.

In honor of being at the largest telescope in the world, we bought some astronaut ice cream. Okay, it was really good!

 After the telescope, we headed out to this random place called "The Cave of the Indians".  Okay, so it's basically this guy's house/property.  He charges you $2.00 to park and then 50 cents per person.  You then can go into these caves that have hieroglyphics. There is also a place on the property called the seven arches.  This place was where a bunch of movies have been filmed, including Pirates! (Just a fun fact for you!) We walked up to the caves and then you have to get on a home-made wooden ladder to get down to the caves.  Ummmm, no thanks.  I knew that I would fall.  (Let's be real, if I can fall down the stairs at a movie theater and break my foot, I can do a lot more damage on a rickety wooden ladder!) But Jeff went down and snapped some pictures. Then, we went over to the Seven Arches and it was truly amazing.  Here are the pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Pictured: Scary ladder I refused to go down.

Isn't the BF so cute?!

We kept driving and ended up in Rincon and went to this amazing place right on the beach.  We ate dinner right at sunset.  I got to try mofongo for the first time, which is plantains with whatever meat you want.  Jeff ordered fish and it was amazing! And talk about presentation! How cute is the bowl that it came in?!

After dinner, we drove and met another pilot that Jeff knows.  He was nice enough to meet us out, let him buy us a few drinks, and then he let us stay with him! Again, another perk of Jeff's job!

On Saturday, we finally got to sleep in! We were going to get up and go to this place that Jeff's friend recommended, but we decided that sleeping in until 10:30 was a much better idea! We left Rincon and headed for Mayaguez.  It was really cloudy and probably going to rain that day so we were kind of lost on what to do.  We originally were going to go to the beach and maybe do some snorkeling, but with the weather, we decided to go to the Mayaguez Zoo! This zoo was so cool because it had a recorder that you could listen to at every exhibit! We saw some awesome animals and saw a few I had never heard of before. (Did you know there's a big antelope-like animal called a Bongo?! Well, now you do!)

It was rainy, so we bought some umbrellas and headed out to see the zoo! We were there for a good three hours and had a blast! It was much better than the Phoenix Zoo!

These chickens are FURRY!

After the zoo, we decided to go to the beach and watch the sunset.  It was absolutely gorgeous! I'm such a lucky girl to get to see sunsets on the beach on a pretty regular basis!

Jeff was trying to get real artsy-fartsy.

After the sunset, we decided to head back to San Juan. We planned to take the earliest flight back to St. Croix on Sunday, so we stayed in San Juan for the night, dropped off the rental car in the morning, and were back in St. Croix by 9:30am on Sunday morning! It was a fabulous weekend!

On Sunday, Jeff and I just had another lazy Sunday hanging out with the puppies.  On Monday, Jeff had to go back to work but we went to see the new Superman movie on Monday night.  It was pretty good, and I appreciate that Superman was pretty fine. (A little something for the ladies!) On Tuesday, I got to go flying with Jeff! It was tons of fun! (I'll update you more on that later!)

Today, we're going to the crab races at the casino! I have NO idea what to expect, but I'm sure it'll give me lots of writing material!