Barclay Broadcast Co.: KAH II: Anguilla

Well, folks, it's that time again. Time for a little tropical getaway. Time for Mommy & Daddy. Time to treasure our dear friends. Yes, it is time for KAH!

In case you've forgotten from last year, KAH stands for "Kids at Home." We dubbed this particular trip "KAH II." And so the Bar-Nutts booked a trip to Anguilla, that 35 square mile island in the British West Indies that almost no one has heard of before. We have historically done cruises together for our vacations, so this year we went with the extreme opposite of cruising. Best decision ever.

No cruise port. No chain restaurants. No chain hotels. (You must be Anguillan to own property, effectively eliminating all of that. For now.) No serious party scene. Just lots of pristine beaches, amazing restaurants, and plenty of snorkeling. Perfect for us old folks.

I fell in love with this island. A bit too hard, in fact. I had a hard time coming back to reality. The people were wonderful. The food was fabulous. I still can't get over the beaches. Everyone should add this place to their bucket list. I realized that my happy place in this world includes a beach and being able to live in my swimsuit. I had more energy on this trip than I'd had in at least 4 years! No desire for a nap, I just wanted to go, go, go all day. I think my tripmates did not exactly feel the same. I felt adventurous. I felt like my 12-year-old self visiting my aunt and being so excited to explore the world that she would have to tell me to go lie down and let her rest. I cannot wait to go back.

So here is a sampling of the 500 or so pictures taken from my camera (and a few from Jeremy's cool little underwater camera.) I have not even cracked the 1200 plus that Stacie sent us yet. :) Sorry, I'm still trying to figure out laying out photos on the new and improved Blogger, so nothing is exactly in order.

We met up with our friends from WV, Paula and Colin, who were visiting St. Maarten on the same day we flew in. Here we are at Sunset Beach Bar, literally right at the end of the runway of Princess Juliana Airport!

Paula even took a picture of Jeremy, Stacie, and I as one of the big jets came in. Pretty cool. (Why the heck were you not in this Brian?)

Already worn out at this point, on the ferry from St. Maarten to Anguilla.

Pretty sure they were in deep discussion about their 1800 years together as best friends. :)

The Dune Preserve, ranked #1 beach bar in the world by CNN in 2011.

The View from the top of the treehouse.

Our motto of the trip was, "This doesn't suck!"

Take a shower from a conch shell if you don't like that sticky salt water!

The unofficial menu for the day, written out by Bankie.

Posing with Mr. Bankie Banx himself at his Dune Preserve Bar.

Stacie on Crocus Bay beach in front of Da'Vida restaurant.

Johnny cakes!

Rendezvous Bay

Can't get enough of these beaches.

Gwen's Reggae Grill

Just your friendly rooster wandering the beach at Shoal Bay, while we lunched for cheap at Uncle Ernie's!

A good reminder, one I definitely needed reminding of as I fell head over heels for this island. Even in the midst of all this beauty and luxury, He is still the Answer.

Trusty Calvin. Just meet him under the tree and he'll take you out to Little Bay.

The cave we swam out to and hiked in!

Little Bay is probably the most exotic-looking spot on the island.

The view from inside the cave we climbed at Little Bay.

You can just spot the tiny Jeremy on this big rock that everyone else was jumping off of. :)

GREAT pic of the Nutts with Little Bay in the background.

View from the top of the rock they climbed and jumped from. :)

Stacie's battle wounds. That rock won, I think.

Stacie's last hurrah :)

Mead's Bay

The Viceroy. Newest, and reportedly, most ostentatious luxury resort. We tried to go have drinks there one night and someone had bought out the ENTIRE place, so we couldn't go in. We still think it was Jay-Z. ;)