The Honeymoon

Where to begin regarding our honeymoon? First of all, for a long, long time we weren't sure what we wanted to do. Kate was really pushing for a very long trip abroad. Potentially multiple months, all throughout Europe. Appealing as that may be, however, reality settled in once I started going back to school and especially once I started working at the hospital... It would be very hard to afford such a trip (because who wants to stay in a hostel during a honeymoon?), and with a fairly new job, that kind of timeframe is just unrealistic.

So we started thinking of other possibilities... We thought for a long time about Spain. But there were similar problems - because once you're already over there, you kind of want to go as many places as possible. Then we thought of Hawaii, which was a real possibility for quite a while. That was eventually axed when we decided we didn't want a beach vacation really. (Not that there isn't more to Hawaii than beaches, just that we wanted to get the most for our money.)

Eventually we started looking at cruises. Not sure when or how (neither of us had ever done a cruise before), but that seemed like an intriguing possibility. There were exotic cruises that would take you all over the world, and considering the number of locations as well as the all-in-one convenience, the cruise option quickly crept to the top of the list. But where to go? Soon after we started talking about Alaska. Again, neither of us had ever been, many of the cities we wanted to see were only accessible by boat/plane, and it seemed like a great mix of activity and natural beauty.

Thus it was decided - Alaskan cruise. And considering Kate's love of most things Disney, a Disney Alaskan cruise.

THE FIRST LEG - OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK

The cruise on its own was not enough, however; we needed something else to occupy ourselves. The logical extension was to spend some time in Washington because the cruise was leaving out of Seattle... So it was settled: we would go around Washington for a few days on our own itinerary, and then board the ship as planned.

That was the best decision we made.

I don't want to speak for Kate, but I think she would fully agree: the few days we spent together on our own going to various lodges and hiking trails around Olympic National Park were the highlight of the Honeymoon. There is just something so satisfying about being on your own schedule and getting to simply enjoy the world around you with the person you love. These were not complicated days - often we would simply wake up, have breakfast, hike around a few hours, drive to our next location, have dinner, and go to bed - but they were so very sweet and intimate. I'd love to spend all my days so occupied.

Lake Quinault lodge

Cedar plank salmon - delish!

Dungeness crab cakes - also great!

So, lest it sound exceedingly vague and dull, what did we do? We started off at Lake Quinault, a massive lodge built in the 1920s and largely in the same condition now as it was then. It's a beautiful space with a number of nearby trails and perhaps the best overall food of the whole trip in my opinion. The view from the restaurant was also pretty extraordinary... I felt bad during meals for being quiet, but I was so stunned with the food and the wonder of the surroundings that words somehow seemed useless.

This was followed by Kalaloch Lodge, which was probably the nicest overall accomodation. The food was not as good as Quinault, but the view was breathtaking: the cabins were built near a precipice, and from your room you could see/hear/smell the ocean. This was my favorite spot overall. We spent a lot of time reading by the soothing quiet of the ocean, and then ran down to the beach during sunset for some remarkable pictures.

Talk about a VIEW

Early next morning we went down again, and the tide was so low that we were actually able to walk on these massive rocks covered with mussels and other strange sea creatures. My favorite was a kind of anemone-looking thing which resided in little pools within the rock and would actually grab your finger if you touched the little "leaves." Very cool.

From there it was off to Sol Duc Hot Springs, probably my least favorite. There was only one trail nearby (which had some amazing waterfalls that Kate captured some equally amazing photographs of), and the springs themselves were basically pungent hot tubs. Additionally, the accomodations here were not as nice and the food more "standard." Nice to do once, but not as unique as the other locales.

(We also stopped in Forks, WA, because Kate thought it would be funny to see the setting of Twilight... I feel so bad for the townspeople there. First, there's nothing to do there - the town is smaller than my home town and destitute - but more importantly, every single surface is covered with "Twilight" memorabilia... shirts, posters, shoes, boots, moccasins, wine, coffee, burgers, shakes - any possible item which could be sold and slapped with a "Twilight" label was subject to such treatment... I would leave. In a heartbeat.)

Copper River salmon on the right - BEST FISH EVER

We ended our trip around Hwy 101 (which encircles the entire park) with a day in Seattle, treating ourselves to the Aqua restaurant on the waterfront as well as the luxurious W Hotel. Talk about service! And talk about food! We tried the Copper River King Salmon based on its reputation, and I seriously have never had a fish which tasted so good. Amazing. Worth every penny and then some. Additionally, there was a live pianist with the most diverse range of material I've ever heard in an upscale restaurant. He played lounge piano versions of everything from Nirvana to Johnny Cash to The Beatles, all while wearing these rad Wayfarer sunglasses. And then when we got back to the hotel, they gave us free champagne and strawberries! How perfect!

DISNEY CRUISE (& EVERYTHING AFTER)

From the W, we walked to Pike's Place Market for a little stroll around downtown Seattle, and then by late afternoon it was time to board the cruise ship - the enormous Disney Wonder. Over a thousand staterooms, thousands of guests, pools, hot tubs, a gym, a spa, numerous restaurants - so many things were on this ship the possibilities were dizzying. And one of the first people we met was a peculiar teenager who had already been on five Disney cruises (and wound up watching The Avengers for the ninth time while onboard). For a couple who had never been on a cruise before, it was all a bit overwhelming.

And then we started moving... and then it was quickly underwhelming.

After strolling around the ship for a while, getting the grand tour of the spa (where they tried their damnedest to justify hundreds of dollars for every mundane treatment), and trying to get a feel for where all the important things were, we learned by the end of the night that we're not really cruise people. A little of it had to do with the ship itself - Kate never vomited, but was acutely seasick that first night when the engines were running so hard against the wind that our dinner table was literally shaking (subsequently, she put herself on bedrest the next day and bought "seabands" for the remainder) - but really it was the lack of activity.

Understandably, a Disney cruise is primarily aimed at families and kids, but there really just isn't much to do on a boat for an extended period of time... and we spent the first two days at sea - ie, no stops were made, and thus you could only entertain yourself while aboard. We worked out every once in a while, had our three meals a day, watched movies... but what more can you do? Kids had an arcade, games, classes, all manner of distractions... "adult" activities were almost exclusively centered around alcohol (or worse, "how to" classes about making your food more presentable, or folding towels into animal shapes). To say we were disappointed would be an understatement.

The food was decent. Breakfasts were almost entirely buffets, dinners were pretty nice, but lunches were terrible. None of the ship restaurants were open for lunch, so you had to go to various "snack" locations to try and find a sandwich or fruit or salad - all of them invariably cold. Disney's saving grace was their premier restaurant - Palo, which featured outstanding service and food, but you had to pay a little more for each meal.

Appetizers

The entertainment was inadequate. While Kate's sea-nausea is mostly to blame, we watched most (or all) of about twenty movies. All of them either Disney or from companies Disney owns. Not because we wanted to (well, some of them we wanted to), but simply because there wasn't much else to do. We saw two of the Broadway-style shows: "Disney Dreams," an extremely entertaining revue which also featured its own narrative. This was the highlight of the onboard entertainment, and it has apparently been named the best of all shows on any cruise ship; the second, "Farewell," was basically an advertisement to go on another Disney cruise.

So if we had such a bad time, why am I mentioning all this? Well, first of all, it wasn't that bad. Really, things were perfectly fine, just a little dull. And boredom on a cruise ship can be especially maddening because there is nowhere to go. The excursions, however, were actually quite nice. Our first port was Skagway, where we biked, hiked, and floated for most of the day. That was actually lovely. We got to see the town, learn a little of its history, and enjoy the natural beauty. All the things we had come for. Additionally, we tried a "spruce tip ale" which was pretty tasty - an ale which contains actual tips of spruce tree leaves, an ingredient which adds nearly all of your daily Vitamin C and was an early custom by sailors to avoid scurvy.

Vitamin C - very important

The next port was Juneau, where we went whale watching. We didn't get as close to the whales as hoped, but we did get to see them come up and then the tell-tale fin disappear below. A nice, relaxing excursion. That same day we also went to see Mendenhall glacier, the fastest-receding glacier in the world; and also to a local salmon bake, which was delicious. Loved that. Kate also did some gold-panning behind the restaurant, coming up with a bunch of tiny flakes.

Sifting, ever sifting

Finally we also went to Ketchikan on a particularly nasty day, where we did a bit of fishing, which unfortunately proved a bit complicated because of some occasionally heavy rain. Kate did manage to catch two fish, however (nice job!), while I caught none. I did have a pretty heavy fish on the line, but it must have managed to escape - by the time the line was up, the bait and fish were gone. One really cool thing was we actually got to see an Orca really close to the boat. Our guide said it was pretty unusual to see the Orcas in our particular location because the water was so shallow (not even 150 feet), but still - a great sight nonetheless! My excuse is that he ate all the fish, and that's why we didn't do better.

Our last port was actually in Canada, where we visited Butchart Gardens. This stop irritated me quite a bit... First of all, the Disney staff was quite disorganized as far as getting people off the boat in a timely manner; second, we did not even have two hours at the location... and it was at night! The whole point was to have a leisurely walk around this world-famous botanic garden and enjoy an afternoon tea... That's hard to do when the bus arrives at 8:05PM and you have to leave by 9:45PM. The grounds were indeed very stunning, but the timeframe was far, far too short, especially for the price.

And that was pretty much it... Getting home was a bit of a nightmare, fraught with all sorts of delays and problems once we actually got back, but why dwell on the negative? I did enough of that complaining about the Disney cruise.

It was a lovely honeymoon, we accomplished all the things we wanted to, but there were a few elements which could have been better... I'd venture nearly all honeymooners could admit the same. If we had it to do over again, I'd probably opt for a shorter cruise and more time on our own in Washington, but I still had a lot of fun. Once in a lifetime.

Gorgeous

PS... One of the PA programs I've applied to is in Oregon, which is very comparable to Washington (or so I'm told). This trip was a bit of a test run to see if I could envision living out there... Well, dear reader, let's just say that if I were to get accepted, it would be very hard to move back. The Pacific Northwest is an amazing place to be - I look forward to going again.