Our First Family Visitor!

Julie and made a bet even before we came to St. Kitts about which family member or friend(s) would come and visit us first. We both made our speculations but I hate to say it but my guess for the first visitor was dead on.

Julie's brother Jay, my only brother-in-law was the first to take the journey down here to visit us from the cold high altitude town of Gunnison, Colorado.

Jay competing in the Leadville 100 this year.

I have to tell you where Jay's from because it tells a lot about him.

In the pictures Jay is running the Leadville 100 Mile Ultra Marathon. Yeah, I didn't think it was a real race either until I met Julie and Jay. Check it out for yourself.

http://www.leadvilleraceseries.com/page/show/311976-leadville-trail-100-run

These guys and girls run 50 miles out and back starting at an elevation of 9,000 feet all the way up to 12,600 feet with a total elevation of 15,000 feet vertical up and down, all under a 30 hour time limit. Wow!

Anyways, Jay has finished in the top 30 so he is always up for adventure, climbing, running, and fun.

Jay bought tickets in October and would stay with us for 10 days.




Julie and I were both excited to have our first visitor and a fun one at that. Julie wasn't able to get off work so I had the daunting task of keeping an Ultra-Marathoner busy for 10 days. I was worried I wouldn't have enough events planned, but it turned out there were plenty of activities to do.

I have to mention that "Dawg Pound" our trusty island car broke down about two weeks before Jay's arrival. According to Julie, "Dawg Pound" was in the dawg house for failing us so quickly. Luckily we had just got our two scooters out of customs and on the road.

Dawg Pound's Ball Joint Snapped like a twig and then broke the axle :(

 Now it looks like this:

Nice Yard Ornament huh? Who needs a garden Gnome when you have a Dawg Pound?

 None of this was much of a surprise to me since I knew the tie rods were bad, but now we had a guest coming for 10 days and we would have three people and two scooters...?? Hmm.

We ordered an extra helmet for Jay and decided if the three of us were out Julie and I would double up and Jay would ride my scoot. It worked out well.

 Here's Jay on his first day in St. Kitts and I'm taking a photo off, yes the back of Julie's scooter. (True gentleman let their wives drive too.)

Jay arrived late Friday night and the next day was a St. Kitt's Hash day. Yeah! All Jay talked about before he came was going on a hash here. Of all the crazy athletic events in Colorado apparently hashing isn't a common one. In fact, we were headed to the hash in this picture.

The hash was organized by a group from Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine and the theme was "Things That Suck," we are talking about bugs here guys. Some of the dogs were the best dressed bugs.

My favorite dog costume. How'd he keep that on?

Before we even started running a lady yelled out of the crowd, "Jay!" It was a lady and her husband who knew Jay from Crested Butte, Colorado and just happened to be in St. Kitts and at the hash. Weird. Colorado people can be found everywhere I guess.

This little guy wanted to come along with us. Can you say cute puppy?

The trail eventually led us down to the beach.

Where did that trail go??

 Of course the best part was watching Jay be baptized with beer by the hash leaders.

My eyes! "Is it the beer or the sweat?"

And some Down Downs!












All in all, it wasn't the 24 hour running Jay is used to doing but I think he enjoyed it, Okay, I know he did.

Continuing our weekend of outdoor adventures the next day, Sunday we headed out to hike Mt. Liamuiga to the Crater. We started out just north of Sandy Point and made our way up into the farmlands near Kittian Hill.

After the group of us of around 15 people hiked for about two hours we finally reached the volcanic crater, which at one time long ago would have been the center of a massive volcano. Now it just looks like a beautiful serene lake has taken its place.

You can also hike down into the crater, but that wasn't part of our plan for the day and it is rather steep. Maybe next time.

The three of us stood still long enough for a group Williamson and Hunt photo.

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They must've been standing on a taller rock. Lol.

We mosied around for probably an hour at the top of the crater, ate our packed lunches, and headed back down. On the way out one of the gentleman with us, who had been struggling on the way up sat down and couldn't get back up. His legs were cramping and shaky. After giving him as much water as we could and after I fed him two granola bars he finally got up and we made it out, but not before the rainforest did what it does best —rain.

We all scurried into our vehicles and headed back home. After two long days of outdoor activities the three of us decided to take it easy for the rest of our Sunday. We grabbed some food, drinks, and limed on the porch. Who wouldn't want to do that with this view?

So Jay's first few days were pretty busy. In the next post I'll show you what other shenanigans we ended up in as I served as an unofficial tour guide.