DAY TWO - Mark

I awoke Sunday early (go figure), to the sound of waves crashing and some birds singing and roosters crowing.  While the sun still rises in the East, it does not rise on the bedroom-side of the villa.  About 5:30am, though, everything starts to slowly illuminate.  Beautiful... 

Trying not to wake my beautiful wife,  I slowly crawled out of bed, grabbed some basic lounge clothes, and quietly shut the door.  I fixed a Malibu Rum and orange juice, which is actually very good: part refreshing, part "I'm a bad-ass on a beach vacation." 

I decided to grab the camera and stroll the yard for the first time (we arrived Saturday in the dark).  I snapped pictures of some gorgeous flowers, trees, landscaping, oh, and of a brown frog we shall call "Grumpy."  He was big, blended into the soil, and wasn't very happy to get attention.

After the yard, I decided to swim.  As I jumped in (okay, waded-in) the pool, I reached for the thermometer I saw hiding and it read 80 degrees.  Not bad for a pool in a tropical paradise!  I swam a lap or two and thought better of my shorts - so off they went.  FREEDOM!!!

After a refreshing swim, I washed and dried our dishes from the night before, had another drink, and decided to explore the yard, etc. more.  

Amy awoke a bit later, as I had jumped in the pool again, and we both swam a bit before before making a great breakfast at about noon.  We both did dishes afterwards, walked around the yard, and Amy took a nap on the hammock (jealous!).

  

When she awoke, she swam again, and then decided we should take the "jeep" for a ride.  We only had a couple of daylight hours left, so we casually drove south, taking a random right, then a left, "watch out for the goat," and then another right.  

It turns out that we had made our way down to a part of the island devastated by the volcano, and we actually drove across Belham's Valley where a beautiful golf course used to be.  Now, it's simply a grey abyss, with only tree-tops and roofs to prove something ever used to lay under the ash that now blankets the valley.  And by "blanket," I mean probably 15-20 feet of ash.  

It also holds a great view of the volcano, still smoldering, and a variety of different pieces of evidence of what history remembers. 

When we found home again, we made another nice dinner, took a nice shower - el-fresco, and retired to bed. 

So happy to be here with my Amy Sue!