St Maarten and Steidl-Kortmann Wedding

Last week Mike and I jetted down to St. Maarten/Martin in the Caribbean for a week to attend the wedding of our good friends Christian and Ursula. We stayed in a villa with our friends Steve and Bobbi-Jo just minutes from one of St. Maartens 30+ beaches, Orient Bay and just as close to Lara and Barry’s beach side condo. All-in-all, a fabulous trip.

The flight to get to and from the Caribbean is a bit of a gong show. We flew out of Seattle, so we had to drive to Seattle, fly to LA (where we almost missed our connection due to having to leave the secured area and change terminals all within less than an hour), then fly overnight to Puerto Rico where we had a 4 hour lay over before finally making our way to St Maarten.

The rest of our arrival was seamless, we got picked up from the airport and dropped off at our villa where we got settled in and went for a swim before doing some grocery shopping and enjoying a nice French dinner in Friar’s Bay.

The next few days we spent relaxing and enjoying the island. We went to the beach, had dinner with locals at a Lolo (Caribbean Beach BBQ), had drinks on the beach, wandered around the towns, checkout out the casinos, chilled by our pool, sampled the local cuisine, drove around the island on a self-directed tour and just enjoyed the company of good friends and exploring new places. One of our most memorable days had to be the accidental trip to the Brothel; talk about uncomfortable ….but that a whole other story……

We had some good tropical storms while were there, but luckily they were mostly at night so we still got a tan. The Storms were crazy and actually kind of fun to watch and it was always warm, even in the rain, so it was all good! The Fire flys at our villa at night were pretty cool to see too.

On the last few days of our trip we attended a “Get to know you” pirate ship boat cruise to meet all the friends and family of the Bride and Groom. It was a great idea and beautiful night for a boat ride. Unfortunately a few of us didn’t a great job of mingling since it was a bit choppy out and sea sickness overtook the fun. Luckily the upset stomachs went away promptly when we reached the shore and we all got to hang out an mingle at the bar afterwards.

On our second to last day we went to Christian and Ursula’s Wedding. The location was amazing, a beautiful, secluded white sand beach and they managed to luck out with a gorgeous sunny day; the best weather of the week. The ceremony went off perfectly followed by a super yummy dinner at their villa and a great night of dancing. We all had a fabulous time at the wedding and reception and wish them all the best!

Sadly, we had to head home the day after the wedding. One week is never long enough for a vacation, I should know that by now. We spent our last day enjoying lunch overlooking the ocean and watching the planes land at eh airport beach bar before our journey home.

The trip home was almost as exciting as the one there. We flew from St. Maarten to Philidelphia. In Philly we enjoyed a dinner of Philly Cheese Steaks and then spent the night sleeping on an aiport bench. In the morning we boarded a plane to Seattle and drove back to Vancouver, officially ending our newest adventure.

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Fall Getaway

Only a few more days and Mike and I are jetting off to St Martin for a vacation and, more importantly, to see our good friends Christian and Ursula get Married. We are super excited for the trip and super happy and excited for Christian and Ursula too! We've never been to the Caribbean and are looking forward to exploring a new area. St. Martin is a tiny island, only 36 square miles, which is half dutch and half french. It should be exciting to explore the different areas from the fancy french restaurants to the parties and casinos on the Dutch side. We've rented a villa on the French side of the island with our friends Steve and Bobbi-Jo and are looking forward to our private pool and BBQ lunches on the deck. We're also located only a few minutes walk away from the beach and restaurants and only a block away from the Condo where our friends Barry and Lara are staying. It should be an awesome week of hanging out in the sun and exploring new places with good friends.

(Apparently Plane watching is a popular activity on one of the St. Martin Beaches)

Keep your eyes open for pics next week.

PS. I'll be looking forward to snowy mountains and ski touring when I get home!