After honeymoon flood, he takes trip of a lifetime – Press & Sun

In this age of information, one of the most popular questions asked starts with “Where were you when …” and is followed by some important event in recent history. I will modify that question and ask you to think about where you were and what you were doing 10 years ago.

On this particular weekend, I know exactly where I was: getting married to my wife, Shannon, at St. James Church in Johnson City. We met in my senior year of college at SUNY Oswego and were engaged for more than three years before tying the knot on June 24, 2006.

With this being our 10-year anniversary, I wanted to make it really special. So, as you read this, we will be at a resort in the Riviera Maya in Mexico, just south of Cancun. This will be my first multiple-day trip out of the state in more than 20 years.

Before coming to work at the Press Sun-Bulletin (and even my first few years here), I was strictly a part-time employee. By the time I earned a producer spot two years ago, I hadn’t had a “vacation week” since I was in my early teens. Even after I was a full-timer, my vacations were spent with a few day trips interspersed with long-neglected household chores, such as cleaning out the spare bedroom in my apartment.

This vacation will be different than any I have ever taken. Family trips when I was younger were mostly to visit relatives, although we had fun at Niagara Falls, and at the aquarium and seaport in Mystic, Connecticut. The trip to see Plymouth Rock in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, was a letdown. That rock looked so small, I’m not sure any Pilgrims could have stepped on it as they exited the Mayflower.

There was also the three-day trip Shannon and I took to Niagara Falls, which was mentioned in a previous From the Staff column because it preceded my heart surgery nearly six years ago.

This trip is important to us because of what happened when we were married. The day before our wedding was inundated with rain, which was so bad at times that a few of our south-traveling guests missed the exit to come to the rehearsal dinner and had to turn around in Pennsylvania.

After a sunny and 85-degree wedding day, the rain started again, leading to what is now called the “Flood of ’06.”

On our “honeymoon” at The Lamplight Inn, a quaint set of cottages near Lake Luzerne, we faced high winds and rain for most of the week. At one point we lost power, rendering the hot tub useless. My in-laws called and told us they had been evacuated to Johnson City High School due to the flood.

Not exactly a honeymoon-like week.

There were a few hiccups before the trip we are on now: The usual preparations, such as list-making, buying trip necessities, and making sure someone can take care of our cats; the early rise and travel on Friday for an 8 a.m. flight out of Syracuse; and the nervousness of this being my first time on an airplane.

With Friday being our actual anniversary, the plan was for us to have dinner on the beach around sunset. Hopefully, it was reminiscent of (and slightly more romantic than) our first date, which was just off the Oswego campus on the shore of Lake Ontario.

Should all go according to plan, we will be holding a drink and staring at the Gulf of Mexico more often than not during our six-day stay south of the border. This is something Shannon and I both need after our honeymoon and some of our other trips.

I’ve heard all about my Press Sun-Bulletin co-workers’ trips, from California to Massachusetts and many places in between, as well as the Bahamas and Spain. Hopefully, this will be my turn to have a trip I can brag about in the office.

Kevin Rakas is the midday producer at the Press Sun-Bulletin. Contact him at krakas@pressconnects.com or follow him on Twitter @PSBRakas.