Welcome to myjennryan.com!
Never forget to dream...
~ Madonna
Courtesy of After Hours DJ Entertainment
Click here to visit the resort we stayed at for our first two weeks as husband and wife!
"90 eHarmony members get married everyday." We did, are you looking for love? If so, click here right now and start looking for your perfect match!
Our Favorite Things:
-Fenway Park
-Red Sox
-Disney World
-Haunted Mansion
-Cooking together
-Shopping
-Playing with Fenway
-Scrabble
-Mucca
-The Beach
-La Summa
-Sweet Tomatoes pizza
-Our new house
Our History:
Happy 40th Birthday Chris!
Chris turned 40 this September and to help celebrate this special birthday we took a vacation! We spent 7 days in California and then drove to Las Vegas for 3 days. It was a great vacation but so tiring. Here is our itinerary, where we stayed and some of our favorite things...
September 12th
-We flew out of Logan airport to John Wayne airport in Orange County, California
September 13th
-Hollywood Day
-Hollywood Walk of Fame Tour
*Star's home tour
*Madame Tussaud's wax museum
*Kodak Theater tour
-Grauman's Chinese Theater tour
-Chicken Dinner restaurant, Knott's Berry Farm
Kodak Theater Grauman's Chinese Theater Madame Tussaud's
September 14th
-Drove the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) from Hermosa Beach (to see the 90210 beech apartment) down through Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and finally Laguna Beach.
-Lunch at Greeter's Corner in Laguna Beach
-Dinner at Downtown Disney - House of Blues
90210 Beach Apartment Greeter's Corner
The Strand, Hermosa Beach Laguna Beach
September 15th - Happy Birthday Chris
-Disneyland
-Dinner at Blue Bayou
Entrance to Disneyland Blue Bayou entrance
September 16th
-WB VIP Studio tour
-Brady Bunch house
-90210 Walsh house
-Hollywood sign - up close and personal
-Rodeo Drive
WB Studios
The Brady Bunch House 90210 The Walsh House
The closest you can get to the Rodeo Drive
Hollywood sign
September 17th
-Universal Studios Hollywood
-Dinner at the Hard Rock in Universal City Walk
Entrance to Universal Studios Universal City Walk at night
September 18th
-Disneyland
-Disney's California Adventure
Disneyland Castle Disney's California Adventure
September 19th
-Drove to Vegas
-Dinner with the Sopranos, Tropicana
Welcome to Vegas!
September 20th
-Exploring Vegas
-Mystere, Treasure Island (now referred to as TI)
September 21st
-Morning at our resort pool (Mandalay Bay) and then seeing more of Vegas
-Visited the Gold & Silver Pawn shop - where they film Pawn Stars on the History Channel
-Freemont Street - lights and old strip casinos
Gold & Silver Pawn Shop Freemont Street - The original Vegas Strip
September 22nd
-Flew home from McCarran airport to Logan
For Valentine's Day Chris arranged for a weekend away at a Bed & Breakfast in Vermont. That weekend was, April 4th and 5th 2009. We drove up to Westin, VT after work on a Friday. It was a tough ride up because of rain, fog and no street lights. Then when we thought we were almost there we learned one BIG lesson! Do not use your GPS to help you navigate your way in Vermont. Unless you program it correctly, it will always take you the most direct route even if that route is a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Chris and I were very happy we had my Jeep because we had a rough 5 miles of deep mud to maneuver.
Our Honeymoon: After the wedding Chris and I went back to my parents house to change and get our luggage for our honeymoon. We drove the rental car to the airport and stayed at a hotel right near the airport. By the time we got to the room it was after midnight and we had to drop the car off at 5am and then had to be at the airport two hours early for an international flight. Needless to say we were very, very tired. Once we landed in Saint Martin we got our rental car and then checked into our resort. We were starving as we had not eaten a meal since the wedding. We found a cute Mexican restaurant (Picante) on the beach which was right down the hill from our resort. We had dinner and a few drinks and then went to bed and slept for 14 hours straight. Finally we were able to catch up on our sleep... Then the fun began...
The first day we were at the resort we took a bus trip around the island of Saint Martin. This was a great way to start off the trip as we were able to get a feel for the island for when we ventured out on our own. Each day after that we planned our days based on locations we wanted to visit and usually spent every other day at the beach.
While we would love to tell you every detail of our honeymoon, we do not want to bore you - so we will give you a list of our favorite things and some of our not so favorite things and let you go and enjoy the island on your own :)
A bit of advice that we were given by my parents and we highly recommend. Early in your trip make sure you sign up for some timeshare tours. By taking the tours you get free gifts and the free gifts we got were wonderful and listed under favorite activities. Word of caution though... If they tell you it is a 90 minute presentation - at 90 minutes cut them off and ask for your free gift. You do not want to spend an entire day there and they will keep you there as long as they can to try and sell you.
Favorite Beaches:
- Orient Beach - We did not venture to the clothing optional side, but beware all of the French side is topless.
- Dawn Beach - This took some time to find. We parked in the garage of the Westin Hotel and truly enjoyed our time on Dawn Beach. It was secluded and beautiful. The only shame is that it has now been built up by a big hotel, but it was still a great beach.
- Pelican Beach - Convenient because it was part of our resort but the French side beaches were much better
Orient Beach
Favorite Restaurants:
- Sopranos - Located in Maho and if you are a Sopranos fan this is the place to go. It had the best Italian food and ton's of Sopranos artifacts. You will feel a part of the family. Click here to view their menu.
- Picante - They offer great Mexican food for lunch and dinner and also offer breakfast. The best thing we had there was the "No Name" frozen drink. The waitress would not tell us what was in it, but it kept us coming back for more.
- Pineapple Pete's - This was a fun place with good food.
- Peg Leg Pub - Big Steelers fans here. It reminded us of an old New England pub.
- Lee's Roadside Grill - Chris loved the ribs here and you eat looking out at he water (we got to gawk at some really large yachts that were docked.)
Sopranos
Favorite Places to Visit:
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Shopping in downtown Phillipsburg: The best jewelery shopping in the Caribbean. Make sure you save room in your suitcase or you will need to buy extra suitcases (not talking from experience of course.) But should you need extra suitcases, shop on Back Street for the best deals. Front Street is for the jewels and goods, Back Street is for the household items. You might also want to check the cruise ship schedules and it is best to shop when there are fewer ships in port. The more ships, the more people, the less fun.
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Guavaberry Emporium: You have to visit this store when you are on Front Street and you must enjoy a Guavaberry Colada for us. This is the islands claim to fame and it is made on the island.
- Maho Beach: Not much of a beach, but a GREAT place to watch the planes come in. This beach is situated at the beginning of the runway so all planes landing in Saint Martin fly right over your head. Beware of low flying planes and do be alert. People have been killed! Favorite local past time at this beach - riding the fence.
In downtown Phillipsburg, beer is cheaper than water. Heineken is the beer of choice and they refer to it as Dutch coffee.
Favorite Activities:
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Take a day trip to Saint Barts: We took a high speed ferry to Saint Barts for the day. We did some shopping and then we teamed up with another honeymoon couple and rented a taxi. He gave us a tour of the island and then dropped us off for a few hours on the other side of the island. It was a great experience and we truly loved the seclusion and beauty of Saint Barts. It is the Caribbean vacation playground of the rich and famous and us of course - for the day.
- Tango Dinner Cruise: This was amazing and breathtaking. We took a sunset sail on a catamaran. It sailed right into the sunset and we got some of the most beautiful pictures you can imagine. The food was good, the crew was awesome and they start serving you rum punch the minute you board.
Saint Barts
Believed to be the home of Jimmy
Buffet's cheeseburger in paradise
Sunset dinner cruise aboard the Tango
What we didn't like:
- Marigot: Maybe we didn't give it a chance but the food was expensive and there didn't seemto be much to do. I believe on Wednesdays they have open air markets and don't forget on the French side they have siestas and close for a few hours in the afternoon. We went to the mall in the center of Marigot and it was not much of a mall and everything was very expensive.
- Parking in Phillipsburg: This is the capital of the Dutch side and there is very limited parking. We ended up parking a few blocks away and walking to Front Street. It also does not matter what time of day you go - it is always busy.
- Driving: Driving in Saint Martin is a bit challenging and you must be a defensive driver (even more so than in Boston.)
