Tropical vacay anyone?

Brrrrr. . . I am soooo chilly! The sky outside looks like this:

Every silver lining's got a touch of gray. . .

Inside, I am roasting sweet potaters and getting some TJ’s mango chicken sausage amd Dr. Prager’s veggie burgers ready for dinner. And dreaming of a tropical getaway, like our honeymoon part 1 which was to Grenada. How did we end up in Grenada, a tiny island that I only heard about because of the US invasion in the ’80’s? Easy, our beloved friends were deciding on a place to get married that was not in either of their home countries, the US or England, and they chose Grenada. As our wedding was only 3 months before theirs, we decided to wait to go away until their wedding, and it was a great decision! Not only did we get to save up more time off from work, but we also were able to save more money and kind of chill after our wedding without having to travel. The wedding itself and the wedding hotel was at the Calabash, a beautiful, tropical seaside resort. We decided that we wanted a little bit of privacy and something slightly less pricey, so we chose the fabulous, amazing, I want to go back, Coral Cove Cottages. Not only was the price right, but we got a gorgeous waterfront one bedroom cottage and for a little extra, a kitchen stocked with milk, sugar, eggs, bread, butter, jam, yogurt, juice, tropical fruit, and a bottle of Mumm Napa Brut! I personally love staying in apts or cottages when traveling so that we can prepare some of our own meals. I love eating out, but it gets old when its EVERY meal!

Our cottage stairs and view

We did the majority of our eating at the Calabash with the wedding party. We even had a Grenada style Thanksgiving dinner as the rehearsal dinner was on Thanksgiving! I have never had Thanksgiving before while listening to the sound of the ocean just a few feet away, and it was quite cool! With the wedding party, we also went out on an all day catamaran trip which brought us whale and dolphin watching, then snorkeling, and then pulled us right up to a secluded beach for a carribean bbq. It was so amazingly delicious, jerk chicken and shrimp, fried plaintains, salad, and rum punch. Oh yes, rum punch. It was fruity, delicious, and lethal! But all in all made for a fun day.

Rum punch- sour sweet strong and weak:
* 3 oz lime juice
* 6 oz simple syrup
* 9 oz rum
* 12 oz water
* grated nutmeg
* a few dashes of Angostura bitters

On the one free day we had, E and I rented a jeep and totally explored the island, including rainforests and Grenada’s Seven Sister Falls. The weather was crazy, totally hot and humid one minute, and pouring rain the next. I guess thats the tropics for you!

Dolphin watching

BBQ Beach

Wedding fun

When we weren’t hanging out with our friends, we spent a lot of time on the screened in porch of our cottage. Grenada is, it seems to me, a lot less developed than other islands and MUCH less touristy. Their market in the capital St. Georges is supposed to be really amazing, so I hope to go back someday. The locals were friendly, the food was fresh and delicious (although watching men walk around with machetes, cutting fruit down on the side of the road was a little odd to us!) and the only drawbacks I can think of  were the massive mosquito bites that we got, and the length of time it took to get there from Boston, layovers in both NJ and in San Juan. On the way back, we did get to spend our layover walking around Old San Juan, and you can get I want to go back there too! A girl needs a little sunshine.

I could write so much more about this great trip, but I am off to do some stretching. My run today was bleh, partially due to a bad night of sleep and partially to the unbearable humidity. I hope you all have a lovely evening! 🙂