I drank some water and nibbled some
trail mix, and then headed towards the University of Virgin Islands (UVI).
I drove around the campus a bit, and still couldn’t find the “visitor
parking,” but I did locate the bookstore. I parked nearby and strolled
over to Public Safety, who told me there was no set “visitor parking” at this
point, so any place was fine. Coming out, I saw a bird was sitting behind
the wheel of one of the golf carts which were used to patrol the campus.
I found it amusing. The bird stayed still long enough for to get a
shot of him.
I went into the bookstore, and saw
that it was really no different than any other college bookstore I’d ever been
in. I really wasn’t expecting anything different, but it was nice to see
there wasn’t a slew of Greek stuff allover. I found one shirt which I
liked, but decided to pass on the café that was there. Sure I was going
to the Caribbean BBQ tonight, so I didn’t need to buy any food, thus I was planning
on eating at the room. Besides, if I did
want something else, I’d stop at Blues Backyard BBQ, or try someplace new, on
the drive back. I’d eaten at Blue’s the last time after my Cruzan, and
I’d noted the business was still in operation.
Driving back up Route 75, I came up
to the GM dealership which was there. It was an open business on my last
visit, and I’d considered doing an informal “drop-in” tour. Now it was
closed, and appeared to be overgrown. I stopped to take a couple pictures
for the amusement factor. Another victim of GM’s downsizing. I had
to chuckle at the thriving (at least, appeared to be thriving) Ford and Toyota dealerships right
next door. As I headed back towards the Palms, I noticed that Blues was
closed today, so I wouldn’t have been able to eat there anyway.
Instead of sitting on the beach
(which would improve my tan, and get myself all sweaty), I decided I’d loiter
in the bar area to work on this journal. That way I didn’t need to get
cleaned up before meeting Angie here tonight. I was able to get a hold of
Greg at VLBA, and we arranged a meeting time for tomorrow. Angie then
contacted me to take a rain-check as she’d gotten called in for work tonight.
I still hung out at the bar working
on the journal, and chatted with Matt a bit. As all the fashion people
had vacated, the place was pretty empty now. Matt’s Ipod was playing a
selection of classic rock in the bar, which was nice and soothing to me.
Another patron had ordered some food, but got the wrong type of fries.
Matt just brought them over to me. Thank you, man. I nibbled
on about half the plate, which would hold me over until dinner. I had a
lot of great conversation with Matt, and he even tried doing the Cocktail
thing where he was flipping a bottle around. He did pretty good, but
decided to stop after one nearly slipped.
A lady had come to sit at the bar,
and we struck up a conversation. Her name was Michelle, and since we were both solo, she decided to
join me for the Caribbean BBQ. I passed on the ribs because I wasn’t sure
what animal these were from, but had chicken breast and mahi mahi, with some
potato salad, rice, corn, and a roll. There
were other side selections, but my plate was full. Since this was a
buffet, I could come back for more later. There was a two-man band
playing some cover tunes which they did good at, although the singer couldn’t
quite hit the notes for Eric Clapton’s “Tears In Heaven.”
During dinner, Michelle and I
learned that the firewalkers weren’t going to be present tonight. Those
were the guys on stilts who juggled torches. I was looking forward to
seeing them. Instead there would be limbo going on, with a DJ supplying
tunes. The dining area was about half-full as it was the last time I was
here. I overheard more than one person commented that the attendance was
smaller than normal.
I considered having a second
helping of food, but ended up passing on it. I was satisfied, but not
stuffed. I try not to eat large amounts in the evening if I can help it.
After dinner, I helped Michelle operate her camera so she could take some
sunset pictures. We then walked up the beach to a more secluded area to
chat. She was down from Michigan
on business to deal with Aquaponics. Much like hydroponics (which I was
familiar with from my summers working at Northern Born), this system grows the
plants in the water and uses the fish to create the fertilizer, thus having a
self-sustaining system. Michelle’s
children were grown, and had never been to St. Croix
before. She commented that her original room wasn’t ready when she got in
because the person who was supposed to check-out hadn’t done so yet. They
bumped her to the now-vacant room next door, which was Room 8. How funny
is that!
Michelle got a chuckle out of my
story about how I’d previously stayed in that room, and was supposed to do so
again until I was bumped to another. We ended up heading back to the bar
to grab some drinks (my Rum Punch, and her White Russian), so we could adjourn
to the Room 8 patio to enjoy the quietness and feel the pulse of the ocean.
She gave me an interesting tidbit about the first genocide of the 20th
Century, which was what Turkey
did to the Armenians in 1915. This topic cam up when I said I was
interested in 20th Century history.
We discussed a variety of other
topics, and when I needed to use the bathroom it was very natural to walk in
the dark to it. Not being in the room in over two years, I still was able
to navigate it well. Even though I didn’t get to stay in my requested
room this time, at least being able to enjoy the patio (even for a short time)
was great. Michelle had to do work stuff the next morning, so the night
ended not long after our drinks did. We talked needing to continue this
the next night.
I returned to my room and slept …
for about two hours. My insomnia decided to kick in then, and I was wide
awake the entire night. Thanks to the free WIFI, I was able to finish
watching “Twelve O’Clock High” with Gregory Peck, and then watched the
pseudo-steampunk move “The Adventurer,” followed by the very good documentary
“Revenge of the Electric Car.” By that time, it was the predawn light,
and the next day as far as I was concerned.
For more information on the places visited or mentioned:
Blues Backyard BBQ: http://st-croix.ceridium.com/profile/blues-backyard-bbq
Aquaponics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics
Armenian massacres by Turkey in 1915: http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/armenians.htm
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