"Well, I won't do THAT again!"

Thirty hours awake. Eighteen hours of travel time, including a 7 hour lay over in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We got up Sunday morning, and since we had to fly out of SLC at 00:50 hours on Monday morning, it made no sense to go to sleep.

The first leg of the trip started well enough. Deb and I have had our, "Silver Medallion" cards from, Delta for a year now, and never, ever, gotten an upgrade. They expire at the end of February. But tonight, all our dreams came true. Moved up to, First Class! Deb had a bottle of water and a glass of wine before we even left the Jetway. I asked for a bourbon and the flight attendant asked me, "Would you like a double?" Hell yeah! Wood bridge Reserve Bourbon, in a crystal glass, and it cost me NOTHING! I had 3 of those between here and Atlanta.

Short turn around in Atlanta. And nothing is open for breakfast at six in the morning there. Just have to live on the bourbon until Puerto Rico.

Seven hour lay over in Puerto Rico. That's just not right, but it's the only way to get to Grenada from SLC, so you live with it.

At least in San Juan, we had our bags checked all the way through, so we could get a cab, and go downtown. We've been there something like 6 times. We went to, Old San Juan and had lunch at a place called, Racie's. Local food. A nice, marinated, flank steak, some rice, and fried plantains. If you've never had plantains, they are like banana's, but you have to cook them before you eat them. No, I don't know why, I only know that it's so.

The sauce that came with the plantain's seemed oddly familiar. Like, Utah Fry sauce. Deb thought I was crazy. Who in their right, Caribbean, mind would put ketchup with mayo? Made sense.

But at the end of the meal, I asked our waitress what the sauce was. She said, "It's just ketchup and mayonnaise." I was RIGHT!

The flight to Grenada from San Juan was two hours. In a twin engine, prop plane. My first experience with a prop plane that size. You think a jet is noisy? Try one of these things!

I have to hand it to American Eagle, they did something that, Delta has never done. When they saw, Deb getting on the plane with her blind cane, the flight attendant came over to us in our seats, and explained where she was in the plane in relations to the exits, and how to find her life vest, and made sure she knew that if there was anything we needed, we should not hesitate to ask. Oh, and if we land in the water? Don't open the FRONT exit. It would be bad. Good advice.

We got to Grenada about 22:00 hours local time (ten o'clock at night for you civilian's). I screwed up the custom's form on the plane, and had to fill out another one, so it takes us forever to get out of the airport, and we are hungry, tired, bleary eyed, and just plain worn out. And I walk outside toward the taxi's, and there is a tall, well dressed, Black man holding a sign that says, "JEFF AND DEBBIE STICKLEY". I felt like a freakin' rock star! God Bless you, Kathy Benson.

Ashley brings the van over, and before we have even gotten to, Coyaba we have set up a tour for Wednesday morning when, Phil and Jami Markham will be in port on their cruise, and he'll spend the whole day with us for $25 a person. Unbelievable.

We arrive at, Coyaba and everything is closed. The store across the the street, even the KFC across the street. I don't eat at, KFC HERE but having not eaten in many hours, I'd have done it there. The restaurant at the resort closes at nine. So I have resigned myself to a night of being hungry and just getting breakfast in the morning. Not so fast.

There is a group of really drunk, Canadians checking in in front of us. They take for ever. But they ask about food. I guess they were as hungry as us. The desk clerk tells them the restaurant is closed, but they can make them some sandwiches as long as they will eat grilled cheese, grilled ham, or grilled ham and cheese. The, Canucks jump on it, as do, Deb and I.

Room service brought us grilled ham and cheese sandwiches (this place is VERY, British, so it was on white, loaf, bread. But at this point, we were happy to have it) with french fries, and a Diet Coke for, Deb in about ten minutes after we had checked in.

The TV had American Cable, so I watched the local news from, Miami while I drank some Puerto Rican rum and went to bed with a full stomach, and peace of mind. We both slept for 12 hours. It was awesome.