We were only home long enough from Washington to catch up on work, complete one more round of Whole30, unpack our cold weather gear, bring our summer clothes down from the attic and hit the road for an island that was new to both SVV and me: Grenada.

But this trip had been in the works longer than most: It was nine whole months ago Villa Solitaire owner Susan invited us down to her family home. And being an up-for-anything-kind-of-gal, Grenada virgin and certified beach junkie, my immediate answer was: “YES,” closely followed by, “my next availability is January. Will that work?”

Thankfully, Susan was patient and flexible, and the more I dreamed about her family’s vacation rental, the more I figured it would be a little bit sad to have this amazing four-bedroom home—or five, if you count the library with its pullout couch—to ourselves and not have others to share the experience with. Which is how my mom, along with bestie Jade, her daughter Augustine, and her parents Micki and Matt, all came to find themselves on the Spice Island with us for seven glorious nights last month.

Not a bad-looking crew, eh?

Everything about this trip was a dream, starting with our base. We were about 20 minutes east of the capital in Westerhall—which is not, come to find out, a mythical land in Game of Thrones, but rather a high-end residential development on a peninsula on the southern tip of Grenada—and boasted a verdant two acres of lush foliage that was at our disposal.

Oh yeah, and a pool. And a tennis court. And in-house cooks. And access to an exclusive neighborhood beach. And a number of fruit trees that were, literally, ripe for the picking.

Basically, there was no need to leave the property for an entire week. And yet, I’d say we did a pretty admirable job at canvasing Grenada’s 133 square miles. We visited cocoa plantations. We hiked out to waterfalls. We discovered a brewery. We went tubing down a river.

Oh, and we did plenty of AcroYoga, because this is us, after all.

Of all the visits I’ve made to the Caribbean, I’ve never stayed in a standalone vacation rental, but for a group our size, this was definitely the way to go. We made good use of that house, too, some days not leaving until well into the afternoon.

And I’m pretty pleased my mom was able to join us and line up a series of sitters for Dad, because Lord knows she deserved a break after a full year of caretaking duties. (A huge thanks to all those who helped out back home, my sister in particular, who helped make this trip a reality!)

I’ve got plenty of Grenada dispatches to come, but first: Have you heard of the island? Or should I start from the very beginning?

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