Breaking a bit of our tradition for active vacations/holidays – this adventure, to celebrate a milestone birthday, was more tranquil, but no less breathtaking in natural wonder.

We traveled to St. John, US Virgin Islands. The island itself isn’t very large, not much more than 10 miles across. We’d found a cute villa on a hillside on the “sleepy” side of St. John – overlooking Coral Bay. It’s an island, so pretty much if you don’t bring it there, you’re not going to find it there – unless, of course, it’s a beach or a beautiful sunrise 🙂

So, that said, we’ll let some pictures do the talking.

Life wasn’t all sunrises and beaches (and happy hour!), we also managed to find a few trails – fully two-thirds of the island is a national park 🙂

Someone was kind enough to do the hard work of spelling “Happy Birthday” using light-colored shells in the dark-blue beach stones of Cobblestone beach. Fun!

And a few days later, we did the longer Reef Bay Trail – another out-and-back trail from the main road, through a thick forest, eventually emptying out at an old Sugar mill and plantation. It was very unsettling to follow the trail, knowing that 150 years prior, the area was an active mill, teaming with slaves toiling in the tepid climate to produce sugar – read more here to get a sense of the human impact.

In all, some beautiful time away, and an island worth visiting for its natural splendor.