St. Thomas: Episode 5: Last Full Day

Sunday morning we picked a church out of the yellow pages, called them up for directions, and gave it a whirl. They sang all the old familiar Maranatha songs we sang back when I was a kid in West Virginia. My favorite part was the greeting time when everyone walked around the church giving quick hugs and blessings to everyone else while the choir sang a song that fit perfectly. I wish I could remember the song. I think TCF should do that kind of mingle time mid-service and save the visiting for after church. I enjoyed the worship so much that I was surprised to find how late it was. We ducked out before the sermon started so we could get a little sightseeing into our day.

When we got to downtown Charlotte Amalie, we found out it was a 3-cruise-ship day. That meant that traffic was crazy with taxi drivers inching along trying to offer any pedestrian a ride back to the ship. We finally realized we would just have to park and walk. After lunch in a nice cafe supposedly world famous for its hot sauce (Gladys' Hot Sauce, anyone?), we started walking in the general direction of Seven Arches Museum in hopes that we would get lucky and actually find it. We not only found it, but it was open! The proprietor who lives there with her husband gave us a nice, albeit slightly rushed, tour of the 18th century Danish home. With the heat what it was, we were rather disappointed not to get the free tropical drinks that are advertised.

Not knowing what else to do, we headed back to the guesthouse for another evening of relaxation and family time. With all that free time, it was a good thing I had brought Dutch Blitz and playing cards.

The next morning, we saw Chris off in his seaplane to St. Croix. When we went downtown to do a little more shopping before we left, a police officer told us the car's tags were expired so Dad dropped me and Mom off to grab a couple of quick souvenirs before heading back to the airport early. It's crazy that we went the entire trip without being pulled over until two hours before we planned to head to the airport, but, hey, that's life. It was a good vacation.