USS Cheyenne Hosts Dependants Cruise
By MC2 Ronald Gutridge,
COMSUBPAC Public Affairs
Release Date: 11/19/2010
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii – Friends and family boarded the Los Angeles-class submarine USS Cheyenne (SSN 773) for a trip from Pearl Harbor to Maui, Nov. 19.
There was an article written about the cruise.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Hot Curlers
On a completely unrelated to traveling note, I bought my own set of hot curlers and I'm very excited.
Lets see, I bought these:
Lets see, I bought these:
Dependents' Cruise
This Friday I went on a Dependent's Cruise, which is also called Family or Tiger Cruise. Supposedly. I could be wrong, but I heard all three so I'm gonna go with it.
It's basically where a certain number of dependents can sign up to ride the submarine for a bit. I think we had a limit of 24, but I'm sure it varies every time. Basically family members can ride along, usually wives but there were a few kids and maybe one dad with us. This sort of thing doesn't happen very often, for example the Engineer's (a LCDR) wife never had the opportunity to do it and they've been in a good long time. The Cheyenne did it maybe 5 years ago, if I heard correctly. It was neat.
We left around 8, I think. Let's go with 8. We left at 8. Michelle, Nick (Michelle's son), Ruby, and I were set up with harnesses to stand on the bridge while we took off. The bridge is the spot on top the sail where the Captain and a few others stand when they leave and arrive places. It was very cool. Everyone got to go up there once to see what it was like. I took a ton of pictures, as you can see on Picasa.
When I got down I was given a packet. It had a little welcome book, photo of the cheyenne, a decal, and a paper of things I had to do. I had to check off certain things that I did or saw in order to become an honorary submariner. It was a cute way to be able to check off different things we were allowed to learn about the boat. I also got to crawl inside a torpedo tube. That wasn't on the list...but it was fun!
We spent the day on the boat, and were served lunch in the Wardroom as well. The food is delicious! Let's see. In addition to tours and certain activities (like learning out to flush their toilet and getting into the rack) the boat showed off a few shenanigans, too. Mainly a lot of us stood in the Control room when we went under and also the boat did different angles, fwd, back and side to side to show us what it felt like. It's so weird to stand crooked. I have pictures to try to portray it. The screen is covered because of the info that was on it.
My favorite part of the boat was the sonar room. I really liked hearing the recordings of what different types of whales, dolphins, and even shrimp sound like! Shrimp are just crackles, but it was cool. I heard the water grubbling when we went under, too. I was definitely fascinated by all the sounds.
At the end of the day we climbed off the Sub onto a rafty boat to stay in Maui for the night. I didn't rent a car so John and I hung out in Lahaina for a day. Thankfully he was allowed off the boat, but only until 2 the next day. It was nice to see him for a little bit even if we did sleep in until 11 and only have a few hours together. After he left I wandered around the little town by myself and did a little Christmas shopping. I got at least one person finished! Well one more, I already had a few done before the whole trip.
\
P.S.
In Maui I got to see the Banyon tree thats the size of an entire block! It looks like multiple trees, but it's all connected. It's so very cool
It's basically where a certain number of dependents can sign up to ride the submarine for a bit. I think we had a limit of 24, but I'm sure it varies every time. Basically family members can ride along, usually wives but there were a few kids and maybe one dad with us. This sort of thing doesn't happen very often, for example the Engineer's (a LCDR) wife never had the opportunity to do it and they've been in a good long time. The Cheyenne did it maybe 5 years ago, if I heard correctly. It was neat.
We left around 8, I think. Let's go with 8. We left at 8. Michelle, Nick (Michelle's son), Ruby, and I were set up with harnesses to stand on the bridge while we took off. The bridge is the spot on top the sail where the Captain and a few others stand when they leave and arrive places. It was very cool. Everyone got to go up there once to see what it was like. I took a ton of pictures, as you can see on Picasa.
When I got down I was given a packet. It had a little welcome book, photo of the cheyenne, a decal, and a paper of things I had to do. I had to check off certain things that I did or saw in order to become an honorary submariner. It was a cute way to be able to check off different things we were allowed to learn about the boat. I also got to crawl inside a torpedo tube. That wasn't on the list...but it was fun!
We spent the day on the boat, and were served lunch in the Wardroom as well. The food is delicious! Let's see. In addition to tours and certain activities (like learning out to flush their toilet and getting into the rack) the boat showed off a few shenanigans, too. Mainly a lot of us stood in the Control room when we went under and also the boat did different angles, fwd, back and side to side to show us what it felt like. It's so weird to stand crooked. I have pictures to try to portray it. The screen is covered because of the info that was on it.
My favorite part of the boat was the sonar room. I really liked hearing the recordings of what different types of whales, dolphins, and even shrimp sound like! Shrimp are just crackles, but it was cool. I heard the water grubbling when we went under, too. I was definitely fascinated by all the sounds.
At the end of the day we climbed off the Sub onto a rafty boat to stay in Maui for the night. I didn't rent a car so John and I hung out in Lahaina for a day. Thankfully he was allowed off the boat, but only until 2 the next day. It was nice to see him for a little bit even if we did sleep in until 11 and only have a few hours together. After he left I wandered around the little town by myself and did a little Christmas shopping. I got at least one person finished! Well one more, I already had a few done before the whole trip.
\
P.S.
In Maui I got to see the Banyon tree thats the size of an entire block! It looks like multiple trees, but it's all connected. It's so very cool
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Honeymoon and other things
Well it's been almost exactly 2 months since I've last posted something. The wedding definitely made my life go all out of whack. Well the wedding and the new job and being gone for a few weeks. It's been rough getting back on track. When I think I'm almost there something comes up and I miss my activities again. I have yet to go to a full week of kick boxing. I missed Tuesday for a work meeting, then the following Tuesday I had to get new suspension on the front of my car, and today, Tuesday, I'm sitting around waiting on the Appliance guy to look at the washer/dryer because it leaks. Thankfully the latter is getting billed to my landlord.
I suppose we should catch up. Work is alright. I'm finally on part-time hours so I get four days to do everything else I need to do. I don't really have much to say about it. Work is work.
The wedding went smoothly. The majority of you were there and/or have already seen the pictures on facebook. The weather for it was great. I'm glad because we really wanted to have the cocktail hour and pictures outside.
Ok there's not much to say on that, too. You were there. It's done, it went smoothly, and I'm now married. Woot!
The Honeymoon was fantastic
.
We went on a 4 night Disney Cruise to Nassau, Bahamas and Castaway Cay. The cruise was amazing. I catch myself missing it nearly every day. They definitely pamper you. Nearly everything is included and everyone is so incredibly friendly. The atmosphere is amazing. It really was relaxing and a lot of fun. We got pictures with Belle and Donald Duck. Turns out Donald Duck is John's favorite and it was one of the cuter photos. We didn't spend too much time ON Nassau because we signed up to scuba dive during our visit and it was fantastic. The water was so warm. Supposedly the bottom temperature was 85 degrees so we went in without wetsuits and didn't even notice.
The next day we went to Castaway Cay, which is a Disney owned island. My calves were so sore from a little gym time and then diving afterwards that I had trouble walking! Thankfully we had plans for swedish massages at their open air cabanas. That was absolutely marvelous. It was just what we needed. After the massage we went on the stingray adventure where you are given the chance to feed them and then swim around with a large amount of them. It was so funny! The one got my finger, but you can barely tell. It was nothing compared to when little miss decides to attack me and that's not a big deal either.
I would definitely recommend that, if given the option, you go on a Disney Cruise. It was wonderful.
Universal wasn't so great. I mainly blame the hotel. We decided that since it was a honeymoon we could pay the price to stay at one of the resorts. It seemed like a really good idea. It was walking distance, had a boat shuttle, the key was an included fast pass, you can get packages sent back to your room, and you could pay for things with your key. All of that seemed like fun perks and kept you from having to carry extra stuff throughout the day. All you needed was your key, right? Well I wouldn't recommend ANYONE stay at the hotels. For the $$$$ price, you don't get many things included. They nickle and dime you for food. It doesn't even have a complimentary breakfast! So on top of paying more than a Best Western, you're paying for food that BW would have given you for free.
We should have just stayed at an outside hotel. Most hotels have shuttles to the park. They take a little longer, but aren't problematic. With the extra money saved from the "resort" we could have BOUGHT the fast passes and probably still had money left over. We wouldn't have had to pay for breakfast. Many of the stores had an option to pick up packages at the gate in the front AND with the resort, we could only send the packages back on the first day because they didn't get delivered until the next day anyway so the park pickup is actually more convenient. Being able to charge things to the room key and thus not carry other cards was useless because it was a $100 limit. On the first day we were forced to pay for our FOURTY DOLLAR BREAKFAST (that's a whole different frustrating story involving annoying waiters and bad communication on their part) with our hotel key because the credit card machine wasn't working and we didn't want to carry a lot of cash at the park. That left us with $60 for merchandise and food for the whole day meaning we had to carry to other cards anyway. $60 may get you through most days, but John intended on buying something at Jurassic Park and I intended on buying things at Harry Potter World which we were going to that day.
It was very frustrating. The whole time we had to watch what we did at the hotel or buy at the park because on day two we had to carry what we got with us. That would have been more of a hassle, but we didn't want much at the second park anyway so it was ok.
I did spend a lot of time missing the Disney Cruise though because as soon as we got off the boat we were in the land of mean people. Those Mears shuttle people (how we got to our hotel and back) are VERY cranky. OH that's another thing! I looked and looked online for something about shuttles and Leows never mentioned it so I booked through Mears. Turns out they do have shuttles, they just don't bother telling you until you get there.
The actual park of Universal was fun. The Harry Potter world is rather small. All the stores are so tiny you have to wait in line just to get in and then you're crammed in. The line to the Hogwarts ride had no fast pass so it was an hour wait. That ride was very very awesome though so it was worth the wait. I hate the ones that have you waiting for an hour and leave you bored and disappointed.
Another neat thing, though, was that the Universal Studios park turns into a giant Halloween/Haunted Park thinger at night in October. It costs extra to go to, but decided it would be fun and it was! It opens at 730 and dear lord, the line to get in is LOOONGGG. It was terrible. John and I were both pretty cranky by then because of our hotel and John forgot the ticket for that part so we ended up having to turn around and go back. It turned out to be a very lucky mistake though because when we got back to the park with the tickets the line to get in was shorter and we came across a couple who was leaving and they gave us their fast passes. Our keys didn't work for this special event bit. Those fast passes were an absolute blessing. We were able to do so much with them and the lines were much longer than any I've seen. It might be comparable to Disney on Christmas. It was fun to do something Halloween related since we usually aren't able to nowadays. We ended up really enjoying it. A couple of the rides were still open at night, while others had their back studios turned into Haunted houses. In addition to that they had various parts of the streets turned into haunted alleys so we often walked up on zombies with chainsaws. I can see why it's so popular!
I definitely enjoyed our honeymoon, minus the Loews fiasco. I definitely wouldn't recommend staying at a resort, it really isn't work the money.
I suppose we should catch up. Work is alright. I'm finally on part-time hours so I get four days to do everything else I need to do. I don't really have much to say about it. Work is work.
The wedding went smoothly. The majority of you were there and/or have already seen the pictures on facebook. The weather for it was great. I'm glad because we really wanted to have the cocktail hour and pictures outside.
Ok there's not much to say on that, too. You were there. It's done, it went smoothly, and I'm now married. Woot!
The Honeymoon was fantastic
We went on a 4 night Disney Cruise to Nassau, Bahamas and Castaway Cay. The cruise was amazing. I catch myself missing it nearly every day. They definitely pamper you. Nearly everything is included and everyone is so incredibly friendly. The atmosphere is amazing. It really was relaxing and a lot of fun. We got pictures with Belle and Donald Duck. Turns out Donald Duck is John's favorite and it was one of the cuter photos. We didn't spend too much time ON Nassau because we signed up to scuba dive during our visit and it was fantastic. The water was so warm. Supposedly the bottom temperature was 85 degrees so we went in without wetsuits and didn't even notice.
The next day we went to Castaway Cay, which is a Disney owned island. My calves were so sore from a little gym time and then diving afterwards that I had trouble walking! Thankfully we had plans for swedish massages at their open air cabanas. That was absolutely marvelous. It was just what we needed. After the massage we went on the stingray adventure where you are given the chance to feed them and then swim around with a large amount of them. It was so funny! The one got my finger, but you can barely tell. It was nothing compared to when little miss decides to attack me and that's not a big deal either.
I would definitely recommend that, if given the option, you go on a Disney Cruise. It was wonderful.
Universal wasn't so great. I mainly blame the hotel. We decided that since it was a honeymoon we could pay the price to stay at one of the resorts. It seemed like a really good idea. It was walking distance, had a boat shuttle, the key was an included fast pass, you can get packages sent back to your room, and you could pay for things with your key. All of that seemed like fun perks and kept you from having to carry extra stuff throughout the day. All you needed was your key, right? Well I wouldn't recommend ANYONE stay at the hotels. For the $$$$ price, you don't get many things included. They nickle and dime you for food. It doesn't even have a complimentary breakfast! So on top of paying more than a Best Western, you're paying for food that BW would have given you for free.
We should have just stayed at an outside hotel. Most hotels have shuttles to the park. They take a little longer, but aren't problematic. With the extra money saved from the "resort" we could have BOUGHT the fast passes and probably still had money left over. We wouldn't have had to pay for breakfast. Many of the stores had an option to pick up packages at the gate in the front AND with the resort, we could only send the packages back on the first day because they didn't get delivered until the next day anyway so the park pickup is actually more convenient. Being able to charge things to the room key and thus not carry other cards was useless because it was a $100 limit. On the first day we were forced to pay for our FOURTY DOLLAR BREAKFAST (that's a whole different frustrating story involving annoying waiters and bad communication on their part) with our hotel key because the credit card machine wasn't working and we didn't want to carry a lot of cash at the park. That left us with $60 for merchandise and food for the whole day meaning we had to carry to other cards anyway. $60 may get you through most days, but John intended on buying something at Jurassic Park and I intended on buying things at Harry Potter World which we were going to that day.
It was very frustrating. The whole time we had to watch what we did at the hotel or buy at the park because on day two we had to carry what we got with us. That would have been more of a hassle, but we didn't want much at the second park anyway so it was ok.
I did spend a lot of time missing the Disney Cruise though because as soon as we got off the boat we were in the land of mean people. Those Mears shuttle people (how we got to our hotel and back) are VERY cranky. OH that's another thing! I looked and looked online for something about shuttles and Leows never mentioned it so I booked through Mears. Turns out they do have shuttles, they just don't bother telling you until you get there.
The actual park of Universal was fun. The Harry Potter world is rather small. All the stores are so tiny you have to wait in line just to get in and then you're crammed in. The line to the Hogwarts ride had no fast pass so it was an hour wait. That ride was very very awesome though so it was worth the wait. I hate the ones that have you waiting for an hour and leave you bored and disappointed.
Another neat thing, though, was that the Universal Studios park turns into a giant Halloween/Haunted Park thinger at night in October. It costs extra to go to, but decided it would be fun and it was! It opens at 730 and dear lord, the line to get in is LOOONGGG. It was terrible. John and I were both pretty cranky by then because of our hotel and John forgot the ticket for that part so we ended up having to turn around and go back. It turned out to be a very lucky mistake though because when we got back to the park with the tickets the line to get in was shorter and we came across a couple who was leaving and they gave us their fast passes. Our keys didn't work for this special event bit. Those fast passes were an absolute blessing. We were able to do so much with them and the lines were much longer than any I've seen. It might be comparable to Disney on Christmas. It was fun to do something Halloween related since we usually aren't able to nowadays. We ended up really enjoying it. A couple of the rides were still open at night, while others had their back studios turned into Haunted houses. In addition to that they had various parts of the streets turned into haunted alleys so we often walked up on zombies with chainsaws. I can see why it's so popular!
I definitely enjoyed our honeymoon, minus the Loews fiasco. I definitely wouldn't recommend staying at a resort, it really isn't work the money.
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