Revisiting Eden

The U.S. and British Virgin Islands have got to be the closest place to Eden you can find on earth. Two years ago, Kirk moved to St. Thomas (one of the U.S. islands) for about a month. He was taking a sabbatical of sorts, and his best friend Tom, who owns an amazing villa called Oceancliff on St. Thomas, made the home available to Kirk during the time he was away. At the tail end of Kirk's time down there, I joined Tom, his wife, Cindy, and a few other people they invited down there for a wonderful 6-day trip.

As you can see, it's gorgeous . . . and we recently learned that we're going back! This week, in fact, as part of our first-anniversary celebration (which is next Saturday, the 9th). We can hardly believe our good fortune or Tom's generosity of spirit.

Three couples will be going -- us, Tom and Cindy, and their friends LaKeisha and Ivor, who will also be celebrating their wedding anniversary. The six of us enjoyed a great dinner last night at The Capital Grille as a pre-trip kickoff in order to finalize details, get to know one another better (we had met LaKeisha and Ivor a couple times before but never in a place that fostered too much get-to-know-you conversation), and just generally celebrate this upcoming fun excursion.

Did I mention it is beautiful there? The deserted beach in the photo above is actually on St. John, the next island over from St. Thomas and my personal favorite. The island is two-thirds national forest. This particular stretch of beach is called Cinnamon Bay. When Kirk and I visited this beach two years ago, there was probably only about ten other people on it the entire time we were there. That's definitely the way to enjoy a beach in one of the most pristine spots of creation!

We fly out early Thursday morning and return on Sunday evening. Can't wait to tell you all about it!

Thanks to my hub for these beautiful and inspiring photographs.