Cheeseburger in Paradise

Herr Zrbo here, blogging to you from paradise. Yes, this is another "on the road" post, except that, unlike last time, Little Earl isn't here with me.  I'm hanging out in a villa on St. John in the Virgin Islands. That picture there, that's the view from the terrace, it's pretty freaking astounding. The island in the upper left is Tortola, part of the British Virgin Islands (I'm on one of the American ones), so yes, I can see Britain from my house, eat your heart out Sarah Palin.

What am I doing here? I'm here with my wife and my in-laws. The in-laws have been coming here for the past ten years and they finally convinced us to vacation with them. I'm not normally a tropical traveler, and it's taken me a bit to become accustomed to the lifestyle, but I'm slowly beginning to enjoy myself.

We spend our days waking early and eating breakfast outside. You can do everything outside here because it's always so warm. Our shower is even located outside. You could essentially walk around naked and be perfectly comfortable.

Then we hop in a jeep, everyone drives jeeps here because the roads are the steepest I've ever seen. Think of the steepest hill in San Francisco and double the grade. They also drive on the opposite side of the road here, even thought they drive American cars with the driver on the left.

We drive to one of the beaches, set up camp... and go snorkeling. I've gotta admit, the first day I was somewhat terrified of the ocean, but after seeing it (it's truly the most amazing color, like you see in photographs that you are sure are photoshopped), and getting into it (it's damn warm, this ain't no Pacific), I started to feel comfortable. Snorkeling is actually pretty fun, it's truly amazing how much life is going on down there under the surface, there's just fish and other critters everywhere.

Sitting on a beach, earning twenty percent

After that we come home, rest for a bit, and start preparing dinner while listening to the Jimmy Buffet channel on the satellite TV. Nothing like drinking rum based cocktails while listening to Mr. Buffett while actually being in the actual Caribbean.

It's been pretty fun so far. Tomorrow we go out on a boat that'll take us to some primo snorkeling spots. I'll be back home next week, when I'll have to re-accustom myself to mainland life. Until then, I'll drink a margarita for you.