The honeymoon story begins the morning after our wedding in the parking lot of the Crescent Hotel where this awaited us. Yes, someone actually wrote "el humpo" on the tire. And the 20 feet of beer cans tied under the car. And I could barely see out of any of the windows.
So, we get underway pretty early because we were flying out of Tulsa airport which is about a 3 hour drive, just under. Except when you have to stop in a car wash and scrub your car windows for 15 minutes so you can see the road. After getting lost in Tulsa for about 20 minutes we finally find the airport and come to a screeching halt in the unloading lane. I leave Jen and all the suitcases there and book it to the long-term lot, pull into the first spot I find, jump out of the car, and take a deep breath as I prepare to sprint the 1/2 mile or so back to the terminal. At that particular moment, the universe granted me a small favor and some crazy shuttle jockey pulled up right behind and said, "Get in, you look like you're in a hurry." So, I hopped in and said, "Get me outta here!" and he replied, "Compliance, navigator" and that dude put that shuttle through some first class maneuvers, allowing the unwieldy bus to slide through the thick atmosphere....uhhh....anyway, we got back to terminal fast and I slipped a five-spot in the dude's tip jar as I jumped down the stairs.
So, we hustle inside, find our airline, and get in line. The details are a little fuzzy but I'm thinking we had about an hour before the flight was supposed to take off. Of course, there's one girl working and two other empty counters so the line is moving slow. After 30 or 40 minutes we're getting close and we're also getting very ancy. There was a nice couple in front us with their two kids. We asked them if we could go in front and we even used the, "We're on our honeymoon ploy" for extra guilt. Being nice, friendly people (and like 3 hours early, wtf?) they let us cut in line. So, we finally get our tickets and head upstairs to security, after a near homicide of a guy with a first class ticket that cut in front of us when we were next in line. Security at the Tulsa airport moves pretty quickly and was a relatively pleasant experience, except for the bizarro lady in front of us arguing with the security employee. After about five minutes of this they started calling our flight and so I leanded over and said, "Excuse me, but that's our flight so somebody needs to check our bags, now." The security agent, a very nice lady, made bizarro wackjob stand aside and wait and man was bizarro pissed. Also, Jen had packed scissors in her carry-on that they had been using to make centerpieces for the reception tables. Jesus. That provoked a massive search of all of our crap, and we had a lot. I told the lady, "You keep the scissors, I don't even want them." I think they went in the trash after she stared at with a blank stare that reminded me of McMurphy, post lobotomy. Then we walk/jogged across the entire terminal to our gate, we may have crossed into Kansas at that point cause it was pretty far and made it to check in just in time to board. Sweet. The flight was pretty uneventful, changeover in Dallas, yadayadayada, on to Vancouver.
Moving on, our hotel, Lonsdale Quay (pronounced key). http://www.lonsdalequay.com/
This place is awesome. Reasonably priced, next to a ferry, and great views from the restaurants. The hotel is on the third floor. The first floor has fresh food from dozens of cafes and small booth type kitchens. Fresh baked goods every morning to wake you up! The second floor had a couple decent dinner restaurants and some very overpriced tourist shopping. Plus, the building is right on the water and next to a neat little sea wall trail with a park. Across the street was a great Thai restaurant as well as one of the best Italian restaurants in the city.
The only negative aspects of the stay were some small scale construction on the first floor which was noisy at time and annoying. We also learned the perils of booking your trip through Expedia. Apparently, they give you the crappiest rooms in the place due to the discount pricing. All of the rooms had harbor views except for three, guess which one we were in. We tried to upgrade but we would have had to move twice, too much hassle. Expedia sure didn't mention that and I would have paid the difference. Hell what's a hundred more bucks when you're slapping down a couple thousand in credit card debt anyway. Regardless, still a very nice room. Clean with good amenities.
Some pictures of the Vancouver skyline across the harbor and the area surrounding Lonsdale Quay.
Us!
There's a restaurant in that pointy thing.
A sweet picture of Jen.
Modern art failure. I don't know what they were going for here but if it was unintentional comedy then I consider it a smashing success.
Vancouver has some of the most incredible natural beauty imaginable. You can stand in one spot and see the ocean then turn around and see mountain peaks covered in snow. The "sea to sky highway" is the main route running north/south that starts in Vancouver and heads up the coast. We went as far as Whistler where we had hoped to do some light hiking and maybe ride some of the ski lifts up the slopes to take some pictures. As luck would have it, we picked the weekend that all of the lifts were closed for maintenance, all of them. So, we just walked around the town and enjoyed the atmosphere and did a little shopping.
Some other things we did:
Capilano suspension bridge is thrilling and great fun. I have to admit I made it sway back and forth a little on purpose.
Jen, not looking too sure about going across the bridge.
