If ya ain’t noticed yet…I like old buildings. So, when I heard that downtown Asheville, NC has a nice selection of old-school architecture, I had to check it out for myself. But I didn’t just go all willy-nilly. First, I did some web searchin’ and … Continue reading Asheville, North Carolina, part one (March 2018)
By now, you may be wondering why I picked this time of year to do my Nebraska trip, what with the low temperatures and the bone-chilling wind. The answer: The Great Crane Migration. The sandhill crane is a huge bird, standing as tall as five … Continue reading Nebraska 2023 Trip Report (Days 7 through 9)
I woke up at a Motel 6 in Kearney, Nebraska. Which is good, because that’s where I fell asleep last night. My first goal for today was to visit the Archway Musuem. This is a museum that is located above Interstate 80 at the south … Continue reading Nebraska 2023 Trip Report (Day 6)
I had planned on Day 5 being a day of just wandering and photographing my hometown of Hastings, Nebraska, starting with in-depth coverage of downtown. But I found the pull of my elementary school to be quite powerful, so I started there instead… I had … Continue reading Nebraska 2023 Trip Report (Day 5)
I never sleep well on the first night of a trip. The exhaustion of not getting any sleep the night before must have caught up with me, because I slept (soundly) for nine hours last night! And then I woke up to this view from … Continue reading Nebraska 2023 Trip Report (Day 2)
I started this year’s travels with a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands (if you missed that, it started here). For my next trip, I wanted to do something different, to ensure that my trip reports get some variety in ’em. So, I asked myself, … Continue reading Nebraska 2023 Trip Report (Day 1)
Yes, it’s true. After months (maybe a year) of nothing but Colorado, I have finally purged all the photos I took during my last year in that most magnificent state. This week’s ThrowBack Thursday takes us to the Carolinas. Due to being busy with work, … Continue reading My First Year in Charlotte (April 2014 – March 2015)
As you may recall, I had intended to take a ferry from Charlotte Amalie to the island of St. John on Day 3, but that ferry isn’t running. So, on Day 4, I took the ferry from Red Hook to St. John. Of course, that … Continue reading Virgin Islands 2023 Trip Report (Day 4)
I’m not sure whether the rooster moved a little farther away from my window, if I had just gotten used to his noise and could ignore it, or if it was because I was so exhausted from the kayaking, but I slept much better last night, even though I was still aware of the rooster mistakenly going off during the night. So, with a pretty solid six hours of sleep, I headed out on the day’s adventure. I walked seven tenths of a mile to the Edward Blyden Ferry Terminal to catch a ferry to the neighboring island of St. John, only to find that there was a mechanical problem, and the ferry is not running today. There are other ferries from St. Thomas to St. John, but they depart from other places, which are not such easy walking distance from my hotel. So, today became my day to explore downtown Charlotte Amalie!
I found downtown Charlotte Amalie to be reminiscent of the French Quarter of New Orleans. Take a look…
Downtown Charlotte Amalie has a pretty typical mix of souvenir shops and restaurants for a beach/tourist town, with one abnormality: there are billions of jewelry stores. Seriously, check out this screen shot from Google Maps:
For the bulk of the day, I just wandered downtown. Some highlights:
I had a breakfast/lunch consisting of a spinach omelet at a little place called Bumpas. The food was good, and the second-floor dining area provides a nice view of the harbor. I also had a Virgin Islands Root Beer, made by St. Johns Brewery. Not my favorite root beer, but not bad, either.
I soon found that St. Johns Brewery has its own store in downtown Charlotte Amalie. There I had a very tart (but good) hard lemonade, made with dark rum. I asked if they make any hard ciders. I was told they have hard ciders at the actual brewery on the island of St. John, but not at this store. So, there’s one more thing to do when I go to St. John (probably tomorrow).
I found a store called S.O.S. Antiques that specializes in items recovered from shipwrecks. I didn’t buy anything, but it was an interesting place to browse – almost like a free museum.
Speaking of free museums, I also spent a good amount of time at the St Thomas Historical Trust Museum. This place has a lot of information and photos showing how the city of Charlotte Amalie developed in the early 20th Century, and a lot of info about pre-Columbian peoples who once occupied the island. Interestingly, I found very little about the years when the island was ruled by various European countries, and very little about the old sugar plantations.
For dinner, I had a yummy angus burger at Stone House Cafe. And that was my day. Thank you and good night.
We’ve all heard the old saying, “You get what you pay for”. There are times when I feel like my purpose in life is to repeatedly discover the truth in that saying. On Cyber Monday of 2022, I watched several travel-related sites for good deals. … Continue reading Virgin Islands 2023 Trip Report (Day 1)
Voyages with Parkinson's 