Notes on a Honeymoon (with pictures)

Monday Sept. 6, 2010 (First Day!)

Aly drove us to Syracuse.

GPS gave us crazy directions but we got there.

The hallways in Best Western are creepy when you are walking around alone.

They had a pool, but it was too cold to swim (and also Rachel didn't want to).

Watched "Dirty Jobs" all night

.

Went to sleep at 10:30, had to get up at 4:00 AM.

Tuesday Sept. 7, 2010

Woke up at 3:30 AM (had a dream we woke up late for our flight).

Packed and ready to go by 4:15 AM.

Got to the airport 1 hour and 45 minutes before our plane left.

Got a sausage egg and cheese bagel from the cafe. Bagel was very tough to chew.

They have CNN on all the TVs in the terminal.

Express Jet to Cleveland

Small plane. Single seats on the left side of the plane. Double seats on the right. I sat in the single seat, Rachel in the double.

Stewardess was nice. Pleasant. I liked her glasses. (Rachel liked her too)

I looked out the window the whole time.

It only took 1 hour and 1 minute to get to Cleveland from syracuse.

Short layover in Cleveland.

Picked up our carry-on luggage.

Left Cleveland 9:00 AM EST

Arrive Seattle 10:53 AM PST

737 - Full Flight

36,000 Feet

Stewardess's butt rubbed against my arm. (Not intentional)

Inflight Movie: "The Backup Plan"

Inflight Movie 2: "Karate Kid" (2010)

Sat on the isle. Rachel in the middle. A lady by the window.

Inside of the plane was louder than I thought.

I peed at 36,000 feet!

No Peanuts?!

LOST MY WALLET!!! (or someone took it)

I freaked out. Rachel tried to calm me. I was biting my coat and rending my hat.

Rachel was afraid I would be kicked off the plane. I used the F word a couple of times. (Rachel says more than a couple of times)

Got to Seattle airport, picked our baggage up.

Took coach (bus) to our hotel (Double Tree).

Had to call all the credit card companies and cancel the cards.

Stuck in Seattle without money or credit cards.

Finally after trying everything else my mom sent us money Western Union. Thanks, Mom!!!

Went to Taco Bell. (First time)

Ate Taco Bell in the room.

Went down to the Hot tub.

Stayed in the hot tub for about 40 minutes.

The room had the same model TV (Philips) as we do, only bigger.

Went to sleep at 8:30 PST (11:30 EST).

Wednesday Sept. 8, 2010

Woke up at 3:30 AM (6:30 EST)

Brought our baggage to the back of the hotel for bus to airport. (Surrounded by blue-hairs & no-hairs)

Took one of those pneumatic tube trains to our terminal. It was cool!

Had 45 minutes before our plane left. Went to Burger King for breakfast.

I was on line for food, Rachel was waving to me that we have to leave.

Rachel freaked out. She thought the plane would leave without us.

I got the food. No drink. Empty cup!

727- 30,000 feet, full.

I sat on the isle, Rachel in the middle, some guy asleep on the window.

We were in the first isle behind First Class. (Basically in first class)

No peanuts on this plane either, but some sort of tropical nut mix. It's not bad, but it's not peanuts!

Rachel missed Charlie and the boys. (Hondo, Buck and Henry)

A guy ahead of us was watching "Karate Kid". What is it with this movie?! It's on every flight!

We were in the front of the plane, lavatory was in the back.

Rachel: "I hope the guy next to me isn't decomposing."

Landed in Anchorage. Collected our baggage. Met by a Princess representative. Sat with other Cruise goers.

Downloaded an Alaska App for the iPod. (Forgot I had it, never used it)

Took a bus to the hotel (Captain Cook) in Anchorage.

Walked around downtown Anchorage. Took pictures and bought souvenirs. (Very loud country music in the souvenir shop)

Ate at the Glacier Brewhouse Restaurant. (Our waitress was a Tess-Clone. Talked and acted just like Tess!)

Found out that someone in Cleveland was using my credit card for gas. (Had to have been stolen, not lost)

Got back to the hotel and up to our room.

Watched "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" until we fell asleep at 8:00 PM AST (12 AM EST)

Thursday Sept. 9, 2010

Woke up at 3:00 AM AST (7:00 AM EST) then fell asleep for 3 hours.

Rachel sent me to the convenience store for stomach medicine and a muffin. (upset stomach)

A horde of blue-hairs in the lobby waiting for their bus to Mt. McKinley. Everyone is old!

I got on the wrong elevator (dumb). Found the right one.

Went to the Westmark Cafe for breakfast. Rachel had the florentine omelet, I had the "Denali" omelet with reindeer sausage. That's right. Reindeer! Breakfast was great!

Rachel tried a piece of reindeer. Her nose lit up and she began pawing at the ground.

Got our bus to Mckinley. Bus driver gave running commentary on the various sites we passed.

Foggy, 43 F.

Drove through Wasilla. Drove by Palin's house. Couldn't see it through the fog. (Couldn't see Russia either)

Wasilla Walmart sells the most duct tape in the US.

Rachel wanted to move there.

Drove through fireworks capital of Alaska. You can buy them, but it's illegal to light them. Weird!

99.99% old people on the bus. A couple, maybe in their 40s, and us.

Stopped at Cubby's Market. 16 miles from Mt. McKinley.

We saw 2 Moose (calves) by the side of the road! (I hope to have moose burgers later)

Got to the Mt. McKinley Lodge. Checked into our room. Beautiful view of the mountains from our room!

Walked around and took pictures then went to the 20320 restaurant (the elevation of Mt. McKinley, Denali, etc.)

Rachel had stuffed potato skins and I had salmon cakes. For desert we had tuxedo cake. We both loved it!

We hiked some of the trails and I took more pictures. (Rachel put up with it)

We had dinner in The Grizzly Bar. Rachel had chicken strips, I had a burger (of course). The sunset outside was spectacular!

Fell asleep at around 11:00 PM (beginning to adjust to the time difference)

Friday Sept. 10, 2010

Woke up at 5:30 AM.

Took some more pictures of the morning mist around the mountains.

Got our bus to Denali Lodge. 9:45 AM

2 hour and 15 minute trip.

Some trivia from the driver:

Denali State Park: 375,000 acres

Denali National Park: 3 million acres.

Adirondack state park: 5 million acres

Largest igloo in Alaska. Originally designed as a hotel. (ugly)

Cantwell, AK pop: 70

Filmed some scenes of "Into the Wild" there.

Got to Denali wilderness Lodge. (Really had to pee!)

Couldn't find our room at first. Eventually found it on the other side of the building. (peed)

Dropped our stuff off and went across the street to a little outdoor mall with shops and eateries.

We went to the Denali Doghouse. I got the Great Alaskan Hotdog. Rachel got a turkey sandwich.

We went back to the lodge and Rachel ate her sandwich on the back deck overlooking the river.

The weather is perfect! Clear blue skies and puffy white clouds.

Took the bus on a 5 hour Natural History tour through Denali. (I took a lot of pictures)

Stopped at a cabin in the woods. A crazy lady lived there who thought it was 1940. (not really, she was just acting)

Drove farther into the park, passed a check point and onto a dirt road.

Stopped at the peak and listened to a native.

Drove back to the lodge. Passed several joggers taking their huskies out for a run.

Arrived at the lodge at 8:00PM

Had dinner at Salmon Bake Bar and Grill (whole place sloped downward) Rachel had chicken strips, I had elk sliders. (Delicious!)

Went back to the room, fell asleep in front of the TV watching "Four Weddings" on TLC.

Saturday Sept. 11, 2010

Got up at 6:00 AM, put our luggage in front of our room to be picked up and went to the Breakfast buffet at the lodge.

Caught our train (rail car D, table 20) for the 9 hour ride to Whittier and our ship.

Sat across from a retired couple (of course) from Illinois (Mike and Ellie Kanis) I liked them. The woman appeared to be sick.

Rachel and I got the bottomless soft-drink option from the menu. I drank so much Sprite!

Passed through Talkeetna. (Filmed the first couple of episodes of "Northern Exposure" in the town before moving to Washington state.)

Stopped in Wasilla. Changed engineers. A woman from Princess took our boarding passes and checked us in.

Stopped in Anchorage. I went to the observation platform and took some video of the train station and the Cook inlet.

Passed by a neighborhood where people had planes and a landing strip in their backyard. Cool!

Tried to buy "Journey to a Dream" by Mary Lovell in the gift shop. But it was closed.

Train went through a 2 1/2 mile long tunnel.

Got to the ship!

More waiting in line behind old people. (Beginning to feel like cattle)

Finally in our "stateroom" (glorified closet with a bed and toilet).

No more old people! No more people!

Ship's position: 60* 46.73' N, 148* 41.79' W

1,985 passengers, almost 900 crew members.

Went to find the buffet (deck 14, Lido, everytime we went there I got that song stuck in my head) had to use the stairs because the elevators were for passengers going to their rooms.

Didn't find the buffet, but we did find the pool and ice cream!

Walked around the ship. Went to the buffet. Ate.

Came back to the room, watched a little bit of "The Princess Bride" and fell asleep.

Sunday Sept. 12, 2010

Woke up at 8:30 and had our complimentary breakfast in the room. (Frosted Flakes, danish, rolls, fruit)

Walked to 15th deck (Sun) for Rachel's ceramics demonstration at 10:30. (She was the only one who showed up)

I left her for an hour, went to the buffet had second breakfast, walked around the ship, took pictures, bought Charlie a shirt (on sale: $6.99).

Met Rachel in front of the buffet at 11:30 and had lunch.

Went back to the room and watched "Everybody's Fine" with Robert Deniro. (It was good, I wasn't expecting it to be)

Went to the Laundromat down the hall. Met a lady ironing shirts who gave us some tips on sites to see at the different ports.

Ship cruised through Yukatat bay. I went on the sun deck and took a lot of pictures.

Very windy. (My hat blew off, but not over the side.)

Saw some ice fall off Hubbard Glacier (white thunder).

Went to the buffet (yes, again!) had second lunch.

At 7:45 went to dinner (formal). We had to dress up. Pants didn't fit. (did they shrink?)

Rachel and I both had the halibut.

We observed the elderly in their natural habitat. (dressed up, in a restaurant, eating and complaining to the waiters)

Our Waiter: Adrian (Romania)

Our Assistant: Tomche (Macedonia)

Total number of meals for Sunday: 5!

After dinner we went to the Universe Lounge (Deck 7) and watched "Date Night" with Steve Carell and Tina Fey.

After the movie was over Rachel wanted cookies, we got lost heading back to our room and explored the ship. (I liked the ship better when it's deserted)

Monday Sept. 13, 2010

Went to the buffet for breakfast.

After breakfast we went and decorated a fish and a picture frame at the ceramics table.

Came back to the room. Rachel took a nap while I took pictures of Glacier Bay out of the stateroom window.

Went up to the sun deck, walked around and took more pictures of the bay. I got a giant hotdog and Rachel got fries.

Went back to the room and ordered 4 chocolate chip cookies from room service.

Walked around the ship. Went to the holiday shopping sale. (We didn't buy anything)

Hung out in the room until dinner (smart casual). Rachel had the cod, I had surf and turf. Rachel had a great apple cider soup she drank with a straw. She tried Venison!

Planned on going to see "Leap Year" under the stars but Rachel was too tired (and also I didn't want to see it again).

Tuesday Sept. 14, 2010

Arrived at Skagway at 6:55 AM.

Walked the 1/4 mile to town. Took pictures, bought postcards, Rachel found a yarn shop. She only bought 1 skein. (Proud of her)

Went to a cafe (I got Sprite, Rachel got a BLT) I went online.

Visited the Skagway Museum. Took more pictures. Walked around town. Went back to the ship for lunch.

Went back to Skagway, walked around some more, got smoothies, people-watched then went back to the ship to rest before dinner.

After dinner went to the Explorers Lounge for Leonard Maltin (Martin) Movie Trivia.

Rachel and I joined a team of siblings (two brothers and a sister) traveling with their parents. We came in second (25 out of 30).

After the game we went to the buffet and picked up cookies.

Wednesday Sept. 15, 2010

Woke up at 9:00 AM, watched the crew do lifeboat exercises outside our window.

Exited the ship. Walked around Juneau. TMP (took more pictures).

Rachel found a great yarn shop in town. (I had a headache from the bright sunshine)

Went on the tram to the top of Mount Roberts. (Rachel was brave). TMP.

Looked around at the amazing view. Walked some trails.

We saw a rescued bald eagle. (Lady Baltimore).

On our way back down, the tram operator sung a local tribal song to us.

Got back to our cabin, took an ibuprofen, rested for dinner (formal).

After dinner Rachel made me sign up for the newlywed game (thank god we didn't get picked!) but now she can only get 6 chickens.

Rachel: "Jeremy still owes me something good because I went up on that thing with him. Also we are getting 12 chickens."

Jeremy: "No we're not."

Thursday Sept 16, 2010

Blah blah blah--9:30--blah blah blah--breakfast--blah blah blah.

Ship docked at Ketchikan.

Fishing town. Walked around the boardwalk. Did the tourist thing.

Then we walked up town and visited the real Ketchikan; industrial, fishing, etc

Someone yelled something at us from a car but we couldn't be sure what it was, or even if it was directed at us.

Ate at The Galley Restaurant. Owned by a Filipino family. I had a Filipino soda. (Royal Tru-Orange, I saved the bottle) Rachel had an egg salad sandwich.

Came back to our cabin. Rested, went to the universe lounge and played UNO, went to the buffet and got cookies and cake, watched a little bit of standup comedy in the Princess Theater (Derrick Cameron).

Skipped dinner, instead ordered room service. Salad, pizza, flan and cookies for desert.

Friday Sept. 17, 2010

Woke up at 9:00 AM (10 AM Vancouver time)

Looked out the cabin window. Foggy. (Thank goodness it wasn't like this the whole week in Alaska!)

Did laundry, packed and Rachel took a nap. I went up to deck 14 and took pictures of the fog and got a burger, then went to the buffet for cookies and cake.

The ship sailed out of the fog. I took fog-less pictures.

Rachel visited the ship's doctor. She's fine, just needs to take antibiotics.

They never fired our pottery. (Bummer!) But we got 18 dollars off our final bill.

We had dinner in the Provence dining room for the last time. Rachel tried sweetbreads! (she liked them, they had "an interesting texture.")

I finally had the fettucini. We both splurged and had soda with dinner!

Saturday Sept. 18, 2010

Woke up at 7:00 AM, had to be to our disembarkation station by 8:05. We got there early and our group (gold 3) was already leaving.

Rainy, gray, and foggy outside.

Went through Canadian customs. Stood in a long line for the bus, listened to old people complain about the buffet on the ship, then got on our bus.

We were delayed because a diabetic woman collapsed in line and our bus driver was the only one who knew first aide.

Drove through Vancouver. Saw a rainbow and a street walker (Rachel was more excited about the rainbow).

Bus stopped at the US border. Border agent asked the bus driver if we were all US citizens (we said yes).

Drive to Seattle took 2 1/2 hours. I listened to music, Rachel knitted. We saw the Space Needle (from a distance) and Safeco Field.

We checked into the Doubletree (again) this time we were on a higher floor so no Internet access.

We walked down to Dave's Diner for lunch.

Back at the hotel I was going to go in the pool but it was raining (and also I didn't want to swim in old man and little kid soup)

We went down to the lobby to print our boarding passes for our flight to Chicago.

Found out that they had us with a 7 hour layover in Chicago, we wouldn't be getting to NY until after midnight.

I called American and had them book us a flight leaving at 3:30. We will arrive at 6:15 PM (phew).

Repacked, had dinner in the hotel restaurant and went to sleep early for our 5:30 AM wake up.

Sunday Sept. 19, 2010 (Final Day!)

Woke up on time, caught the shuttle to the airport, everything was going smoothly until we went through security.

Something in our carryon bag set off an alarm so we were pulled out of line, the bag was unpacked and searched.

There was a delay, I was patted down! (The security agent said it was just "procedure", but I swore I heard him giggling)

On the plane. 737. 3 seats on each side. Rachel on the isle, me in the middle, woman on the window.

During the flight they gave us each a complimentary orange cranberry cookie and soda.

Captain got on the PA and tried to sell us a credit card. Real classy, Alaska Airlines!

Got to Chicago. Had to rush through the terminal to get to our gate. We made it with 15 minutes to spare!

On the plane. American Eagle. Tiny plane (Rachel asked, "where's the rest of it?")

1 hour 27 minutes to Syracuse!

Sat all the way in the back. 18 A,B

37,000 ft. -62* below 0

Husband and wife flight crew.

Back in NY!

Aly picked us up and had balloons. Charlie had a sign welcoming us back.

THE END