Retirement on the High Seas

Hey gang.

Kris' boss (of the last five or six years or so) was retiring, after running a dental practice in town for, like, thirty-some years.  To celebrate his retirement, and to send him off into the sunset in style, the doctor's wife orchestrated a surprise retirement party in Bay City. . . on a boat.

Prior to boarding the boat, we posed for a picture in our matching shirts.

The Princess Wenonah - a river cruise boat - was secretly chartered, and Kris and all her coworkers (and their husbands, including Yours Truly) were invited along.  Someone arranged for us all to get matching shirts as well, and the doctor's wife managed to get the doctor to head into downtown Bay City under the guise of eating out for dinner.  Once they got down by the river, we met up with them and surprised him, all wearing those matching yellow shirts. 

After getting a group pic in our matching shirts, we boarded the Princess Wenonah and started off down the river, where we were to cruise out to the bay and back over the course of two or three hours.

Check it out. . .

So this cruise thing they chartered came with a few perks, namely a.) a free meal, and b.) a beer/wine bar.  They gave us 8 drink tickets per person to redeem as well (an Oberon or a High Noon ran about 5 drink tickets, a Miller Lite or a White Claw 4 tickets, etc.) 

When we first departed from the dock, we all just grabbed a drink and sat around at a couple tables so that the doctor could open up some of his retirement gifts. . .

Kris and her coworkers all chipped in and bought him an engraved decanter and glasses set, all etched with the 'dental logo' (or whatever it's called) and his name.

(I didn't keep that yellow shirt on very long.)

Kris bought him a harmonica as a cheap, little side gift because I guess he was taking harmonica lessons for a bit. Some inside joke I wasn't privy to.

Watching a pic/video slideshow someone had made.

Cruising down the river, at intervals we'd pass through or under multiple bridges like this.

Heading up to the second level of the boat.

A little windy up top, my hair doesn't usually look like this.

On the second level, they had a live band playing Tom Petty covers (the doctor being a huge Tom Petty fan.)

The U.S.S. Edson.  I don't know the history of this ship, or why it's just anchored in the river like this, but I picked up a shirt once from a Goodwill that had the silhouette and name of the ship on it.

After a couple drinks a lot of the passengers went upstairs to listen to the band.

Kris and he coworkers (and some random lady, heading back down the lower level, photobombing the pic.)

The evening's weather was perfect for sunset photography - I spent a lot of time snapping pics.

This has to be just super awkward for the band, having people just sitting there all quiet and boring like.

Another selfie.  Kris likes her selfies.

Like I'm not going to snap a pic of a sailboat as it passes through the sun's rays reflected on the water. . .

Once we hit the open water of the bay, the boat did a big turnaround and began the long cruise back down the river.

Coming back down the river towards the city. . .

Shot of the bar

Passing another bridge

As we approached the docks it was about 10pm, and we had been on the water for a few hours.  A pretty cool little cruise, I could definitely be talked into doing something like this again.

- Brian