Island Adventure- Road Trip 2013!

Sunday was our island adventure day!!! It was SO MUCH FUN! Ever since moving to Grenada we have talked about driving around the whole island and we finally got the chance to do it. Grenada is a very small island so it can be easily explored in one day, even with several pit-stops along the way. We rented a car for the day, packed it up with towels, swim suits, lots of water/Gatorade, sandwiches and snacks and hit the road! Since we haven't had a car down here it was the first time we have really had freedom to do what we want, when we want, where want- and boy did it feel great!! We also both got to drive here for the first time on the opposite side of the car/road and I have to say- we were both surprised by how easy we found it to be! Some of the Grenadian drivers definitely caused us to have a few butt clenching driving moments, but it was fun to be able to check that off our bucket list!

As for our adventure- we headed up the west side where we had the ocean to our left the majority of the ride which was GORGEOUS! We hit places such as: Gouyave, happy hill, ... just to name a few. Our ulitimate destination was to make it to the northern side and the gorgeous beaches there, where we did some sight seeing and lounged at some of the breathtaking beaches. Bathway beach- words can't even come close to describing it! After that we hit up the chocolate factory and pearls airport on the way back down the east side, before cutting through the rainforest and seeing Grand Etang and the monkeys!

Our car had limited radio so we were left to the mercy of each others company and singing songs every time we said a phrase that related to a song that one of us would then bust out singing... we're cool :) Everyone we met was SO nice and helpful- it's amazing how much more laid back it is once you get away from the school hoopla! The entire trip went super smoothly and was just an absolute blast! As for the rest.... I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talkin...

The car we rented! Pretty cheap for a 24 hour rental and drove great! Due to it's amazing ability to conquer crazy
Grenadian streets and drivers we named him Bruce "The Beast." Nick navigated the crazy roads like a pro as well!

The nice thing about being on our own schedule was that we could stop whenever we felt it was a good photo-op!
This is what the scenery looked like the ENTIRE trip North... we are so blessed to have been able to call this
island home for the past 1.5-2 years!

Just a handful of the towns we visited and signs that I actually managed to snap pictures of! How freakin' cool is
the huge one of Kirani James?! What an awesome time to have lived here in Grenada to experience
his success and the pride his country felt/feels on his behalf!

I can't get enough of all the bright colors of the Caribbean. I absolutely love it! We also enjoyed checking out
all the many churches that we passed along the way. Each church was unique but so wonderfully and beautifully
built!We tried to look inside a few, but sadly they were locked so we could only peak through the windows...
but the insides definitely matched the outside.

These pictures were taken at Bathway beach- easily one of the most beautiful and calming places I have ever been
to. The beach itself was so quiet and there were very few other people there besides us. The waves were HUGE
crashing on the rocks, which created the best sound EVER. We ate our picnic lunch here on the beach and both
just laid back and took a mini cat nap to the sound... the sound of the ocean is definitely one of the things I will
miss most... I wish I could pack it up and take it with me back to Michigan!

These pictures were obviously taken at the Chocolate factory. Grenada is one of the largest suppliers of chocolate
in the world (especially of dark chocolate.) We were able to see the entire process, taste the cocoa at various stages,
and "walk the beans." To those lucky people who get this batch of chocolate- you're welcome for my stinky feet that
helped  make it!!! They should definitely charge extra for that batch... ;) Nick was obviously in heaven getting to try the many different kinds of chocolate... I however, had more than enough with one small nibble.... wayyy too chocolatey for me!

Pearls Airport is where the original Grenada airport was located and is still where you can find old Cuban planes in the airfield, which are really cool to see!  The old runways are also still used occasionally for things like street racing- which is not surprising seeing as it is a huge, long, straight road just asking for a car to put the pedal to the metal! We had an absolute blast here! It was like a jungle gym for adults... who doesn't want to climb and explore super old airplanes for hours?! SO.MUCH.FUN!

Climbing up was not necessarily super easy, but it sure was awesome once you were up there!

The ride home was filled with beautiful scenery as well as we cut through the center of Grenada, where the rainforests are! With the ongoing drought in Grenada, most of what is near our house is brown and dead, so seeing all the green was extra exciting! It was refreshing to see healthy plant life on the island and to smell fresh rain! It was also beautiful to watch the sunset through the mountains and over the water on the drive home also!

Such a fun-filled day with a lot of great quality time with the hubs! I sure love having him around and free from the clutches of school/the library! He's been so crazy busy this term that we were long overdue for a day of adventure, fun, lots of laughs and silliness, and to just leave medical school behind and explore the island we call home!

If you're in Grenada, we definitely recommend taking a trip around the island. You can do so with a guide, but doing it on our own made it that much more fun and special, so for what it's worth- we highly encourage renting a car and giving it a go on your own :) Yep... we are going to miss this little island a lot!