Girls Trip to the British Virgin Islands

I bring to you today the last entry reminiscing about my girls trips. This is my favorite. My mamma always said save the best for last! One week on board a catamaran in the British Virgin Islands, complete with a captain, cook and seven wonderful women! Do I need to say more? Well, I will.



The only choices I had to make for seven glorious days were simple decisions. For instance, what suit should I wear? What time should I get up? Do I want to go snorkeling? Should I go tubing? Hum…should I buy this? I must say it was a dream come true. I have ALWAYS wanted to live aboard a boat. (Just out of college, I almost headed to San Diego to find a job and live on a house boat) Sir gets seasick so a romantic getaway on a catamaran is out of the question. So instead of Sir, my girlfriends helped me to live my dream.



My favorite time? A full day sail to Anegada just so we could eat 3 pound lobsters! The silliest time? Our Gilligan’s Island party during cocktail hour one evening. Our wildest time? Our evening on Jost Van Dyke at the popular bar, Foxy. Sorry that is all I am allowed to say!

Our scariest moment? We were snorkeling in a beautiful cove after lunch on our sail from Anegada to Jost Van Dyke. Most of the ladies headed back to the boat and only a few of us remained to continue on. Around the corner came a large school of tarpin swiftly moving passed us. We were so freaked out! They are big ugly suckers and there were hundreds of them swimming together. We sighed a sigh of relief as they passed, but our anxiety level rose again when they came back at us. You see, we didn’t know what they were and they looked very hungry! The four of us got together and held on for dear life as the tarpin created a close circle around us. Around and around they went. We felt like the tarpin were performing a death dance around us! Once we stopped peeing our swimsuits, we took notice of their movement. They were taking turns leaving the circle to spend a few moments feeding on a school of very tiny fish. When the school of tarpin left and we returned to the boat and we recounted this frightening event to the rest of the group. We described these big ugly monster fish only to have the captain laugh at us. His response was, “they are only tarpin, and they won’t hurt you.” Well, it was scary. We didn’t know they wouldn’t hurt us and I am here to tell you, I am not making up a fish story.

What I won’t ever forget? Watching the sun set on the water every night as I laughed with my girlfriends and we created memories that will last a life time.

Back in September I stated “All I can say is watch for drinking ladies sailing the horizon speaking Spanish and driving convertibles eating Ben and Jerry’s.” I believe I have told you about these ladies! Thanks for joining me on the ride around the world!

Girls Trip to Napa

Ah, Napa Valley! There is so much more than wine – but don’t get me wrong, I love the wineries. The expansive rows of vines stretching through the valley and up the mountains are a sight to see. The wineries themselves are quite impressive: the beautiful buildings and masterful landscaping adorn the valley. I enjoyed watching vineyard after vineyard as we drove through the valley. Linda and I had an extremely good time on our many adventures in Napa! But two experiences from the trip stick out in my mind.

Due to the weather, hot air balloon companies had been cancelling flights during our stay. Fortunately for us, we pre-booked the right day, the perfect day for the right wind, and we were able to go hot air ballooning. We floated through the air with dozens of colorful balloons. It was a perfect morning as the sun peaked over the mountains and the horizon was filled with other balloons.

Our second adventure was not as beautiful and peaceful, but equally as interesting. After diligent research, Linda booked us for an afternoon at a spa in Calistoga, in the northern part of the valley. Sorry there are no pictures as cameras were not allowed in the spa – hallelujah! A mud bath experience was ours to enjoy: we began the afternoon lounging naked in big vats of mud, only to get out looking like the Loc Ness monster, which then required a shower to scrub every nook and cranny where mud has settled! After our shower, we soaked in big tubs of aromatic laced hot water. The spa attendants kept cool cloths on our foreheads to keep us from overheating! Our next stop was the steam room, which was so hot they had created little square cut-outs in the wall so you could stick your head out for fresh air! We were then walked to relaxation beds where we laid down, covered up with warm blankets and listened to music. The treatment then ended with a massage. At least that’s what we were told – we slept through the whole message! We slithered out of the spa like two wet noodles, barely able to walk or talk! Yes! Another successful girl’s trip – taking care of our mind, body and spirit!

Girls Trip To New England

I was going to share my favorite girl’s trip ever, but changed my mind today when I was walking the dog and watched the first leaves of fall floating to the ground! New England in the fall is a beautiful place to be and I was lucky to be there! With a map and lodging reservations in hand Linda and I headed out on another fast moving adventure! Our first stop was the northern most point on Cape Cod and then we worked our way through four states. The color was spectacular everywhere we traveled. The last of the summer flowers added vibrant color to the fall hues.

I am a Sound of Music fan, so I was thrilled to stay in Stowe, Vermont, home of the “real” Von Trapp family. While there, we stayed at the Trapp Family Lodge which is nestled in the mountains above the village of Stowe. They offered a documentary movie on the “real” Maria and I am happy to report, it didn’t destroy my image of Julie Andrews’ Maria from my childhood. The villages around Stowe proved to be entertaining and enjoyable too. Apple cider, maple syrup, Cabot cheese – we ate and shopped our way through! We especially enjoyed our stop at Ben and Jerry’s. Yum yum!

Our most disappointing experience was the storm that blew in once we arrived in Maine. It was three days of misery! First, we had waited to go sailing until we reached Maine, and much to our chagrin, we watched as they locked the boats down for the incoming storm. To say we were disappointed is an understatement. We looked long and hard to find a B&B on the coast and were thrilled when we did. However, the room howled as the wind blew through the windows keeping us up the whole night. All we could do was laugh. The final day of our misery - we drove out of our way to travel the Kancamagus Highway, which is touted as one of the most beautiful drives in New England, but the storm had traveled inland and took all the leaves off the trees!

But, it was a wonderful trip. We laughed. We shopped. We met interesting people along the way. We ate oysters on the Cape. We ate lobsters in Maine. We walked the beach. We climbed the hills. We drove through sunshine. We drove through the rain. But best of all, we caught up on another year of our lives.

Girls Trip to France

France. I had a burning desire to tour Provence for some time. While living in London, my friends talked of the glorious food, quaint villages, sweeping lavender farms, and picturesque views. We never made it to Southern France during our European stay, so my girls trip saved the day. With airline tickets and a car reservation in hand, Linda and I were off for a week in Provence. We knew we were in trouble when the employees behind the counter at Hertz talked us into a free upgrade. “You cannot tour Provence without a convertible!” And they added, “It is easier to pick up men!” Well, I didn’t think we looked like two floozies, but we happily accepted the convertible and went merrily on our way! Wouldn’t you know it? Just 5 miles down the road, the truck drivers started honking at us. After a good laugh, we continued on our adventure. Up and down the steep roads on the side of the mountains we drove, realizing we had made a BIG mistake accepting a manual transmission.
But my friends were right - Provence was beautiful. The villages were amazing and the views were breathtaking! We toured whereever we wanted, finding lodging along the way. A few of the places we traveled to were: Biot, Grasse, Riez, Gourdon, Tourrettes sup-Loup, Moustiers-Sainte-Marie where we drove the Gorges du Verdon, ending with Port Santa Lucia and Cannes. We learned a couple lessons along the way! First, if you don’t know the language and don’t know where you are going, it might be best to book lodging a few nights ahead of time! Several nights we were laughing (better than crying) because we couldn’t find a place to stay. One evening, it took us over 4 hours to find somewhere to stay! As we watched the clock ticking, we were ready to sleep in the car –unfortunately; we didn’t know where it would be safe to park! Another lesson, if one of your main reasons to traveling to a country is to find lavender fields, check the lavender season ahead of time! We stopped in every village, at every lavender farm, in the towns famous for its lavender, just to find that the harvest was over. The fields were cut back and fresh lavender was nowhere to be found! We finally found lavender at the airport on the way out of the country! Our last lesson learned – there are strict times for lunch in Provence, especially in the off-season, and if you deviate from these times, you have no food! At the beginning of the trip, we didn’t know about this small piece of useful information. By 4:00 our first afternoon, we were down to rummaging through our luggage trying to find anything to eat. We were overjoyed to find a bite-sized candy bar to share! All afternoon we had been hearing from everyone, “Finished.” We were so sick of hearing the word “finished” we were almost finished! After that experience, we kept water and a few snacks in the car, and made sure we were in a village at lunch time!
My favorite memory was the day we drove across the mesa high in the mountains. The top was down on the car, the cold wind was whipping our hair in every direction, the heater was blowing hard to keep us warm, the sky was a beautiful blue with white fluffy clouds and we were the only ones on the road. Zooming down the road, with the snow capped mountains to our right and an occasional house on our left; we put the pedal to the medal and flew! Laughing and feeling as giddy as teenagers; it was simply a perfect moment in time.

Girls Trip

Girls Trips are on the rise! Sisters, mothers and daughters, or friends are all coming together from all over the world to share a unique experience, catch up on life, rejuvenate their souls or just plain get away from the rat race of life. I recently read that out of a survey of 1,500 women, 55% planned an all female retreat annually! Boy, am I lucky to be one of these women. Once a year I wave good-bye to Sir and the daughters and head out for a week or two of “me” time. My goals are simple: go some place new, go far away with many time changes so it is hard for anyone to get a hold of me, be gone long enough to be missed, and finally, go somewhere Sir has no desire to go. I do not meet all my goals every year, but who is complaining? This all started when we were living in London. When several of my girl friends came to visit, Sir stayed home with the daughters and I took a long weekend with my friends. I traveled to places like the Lake District in England, Paris, and Bruges in Belgium. Wow! What a refreshing experience. No one to put to bed. No one’s nose to wipe. No fighting. Just time for me. Time for me to take a breath, share girlfriend talk, take care of my spirit and return home with a renewed energy to be a Mom and Wife! When I returned to the states, I didn’t want this to end. So, every year since 2001, off I go with Sir holding down the fort - sometimes with help from our family and friends! Thank you friends and family! Over the next several weeks, I will bring you snippets of my girl’s trips. All I can say is watch for drinking ladies sailing the horizon speaking Spanish and driving convertibles eating Ben and Jerry’s.