it's better in the bahamas

i can't think of a better way to celebrate turning 40 years old and celebrating 13 years of marriage. mike turned 40 in april and i'll turn 40 in june. our 13 year wedding anniversary is also in june. so we celebrated with a quiet trip to the bahamas. Harbour Island is such a beautiful place. and it's just what we needed...nothing to do their except relax. we read books, took naps, met some great people and just enjoyed being a couple again. this was our first trip without the boys. we're so lucky that my parents moved into our house and took care of the boys....i can't thank them enough! i love flying in the little puddle jumper airplanes and learned years ago that the secret to flying in them is to NOT get drunk the night before. small planes, and hangovers = barf bags. and though we were celebrating on this trip, i curbed my cocktail intake until we had our feet on Harbour Island. i love the view from the airplane when the water turns this beautiful blue. it's a sure sign that you're somewhere other than Kansas.
after landing at the North Eleuthera airport we took a 5 minute taxi ride to hop on a water taxi to take us to Harbour Island. Harbour Island is a small island and you only need a golf cart to get around. we opted to walk most of our time there. we did rent a cart one day and had a good time. seems like there were lots of locals there and they are really nice. the restaurants were usually full but the beach was usually pretty empty. it was almost like having your own private beach. the sand is pink and it's beautiful.

the owner of the b&b we stayed at, John, organized a boat trip one day. along with others staying at the b&b we hung out all day going from one spot to another. he took us to some other tiny islands where nobody was and it was amazing.

our boat driver, Robert, stopped and picked up this star fish for us. after examining it, we threw him back in. it was amazing to see the starfish, sting ray and other fish just right there swimming by the boat.

the day mike and i rented a golf cart we headed from one side of the island to the other. we went off the map and off the paved road. we saw some beautiful homes, owned mostly by famous people. we found an empty lot, parked the golf cart and walked towards the beach. this was the view from the top of the lot. oh how i would love to build a house here! this view was incredible. we headed down to the beach and we were the only ones there.

this is a house, on the bay side, that i wanted to buy. it's not for sale, and even if it was we wouldn't actually move to the bahamas....but i always want to move where i vacation, so this was the house i picked.

and then we saw this house and IT IS for sale! no view of the bay or beach. a true fixer upper, and only for a mere $500,000. gulp!

we stayed at the Bahama House Inn. the owner, John, is a terrific fun loving guy. he's owned this place for 11 years. he just put it on the market to sell and you can imagine my conversation with mike about how i've always wanted to run a B&B and that this would be so perfect. needless to say, after a short discussion, we will not be moving to Harbour Island and buying this place. good old mike, always the one to stay the course and keep me from spontaneous, money draining, ventures. but if we could i would buy this place in a second...even after reading Don't Stop the Carnival!

the porch at Bahama House Inn. we ate breakfast here and started happy hour here.

kitchen inside Bahama House....

photo of us with John at Bahama House Inn. sure signs of a good vacation: meeting locals, eating great food, hoping on a strangers golf cart drunk at 12:30am because they are heading to grab some bbq'd ribs. which turned out to be some of the best bbq we've ever had! and not wanting to leave. thanks John! we had a great time!