That Guy (Who I Married) and I left for Vancouver on June 3. After a loooong delayed connection in San Francisco, we arrived to spend the first night of our honeymoon in Canada. I'm particularly glad that we chose to do this as we would've been cutting it extremely close to catch the cruise ship before we left. On the downside, we were so exhausted from the lengthy flights and wait times, we barely took advantage of Vancouver. We headed down to the Gastown neighborhood. Most of the shops were closed but we were able to grab a delicious pasta dinner. (Can you believe it? Right before moving to Italy?)
The next morning we headed to Canada Place to board the Carnival Spirit! We're both third-time cruisers and got nifty "gold cards" (which initially made us feel special but didn't end up doing anything cool). After boarding, we unpacked a bit (the best part of a cruise is you only do it once) and then set off to explore the ship.
To be honest, the ship itself wasn't much to write home about. Since we didn't intend to spend much time on board, we weren't really bothered by this but anyone who loves the "activity" stuff they do might be disappointed. One thing we noticed quickly: everyone was OLD. Not just older, but OLD. Lots of grandparents with children and teenage grandchildren. By the time our second night's dinner rolled around, we realized that practically all the other young couples (all five of them we saw) were honeymooners, too! After dinner, my wonderful new husband even had a surprise set out!
We were very happy to have booked a balcony room. We had the most amazing views EVERY single day - right from the comfort of our room.
Our days in port were really fun. Our first stop was Ketchikan. Mark really wanted to go fishing but all of the "sportfishing" excursions were so expensive and didn't really allow him to do the stream/river fishing he was interested in doing. Luckily, we found a company right off the ship that rented out small skiffs. They took us to their resort, checked us in, and we set out to fish (well, Mark did). No catches, unfortunately, but we definitely caught some amazing scenery. While I wasn't too crazy about spending the day fishing, I think it was ultimately the best idea.
The manager of the fishing resort drove us back into town later that afternoon but was kind enough to make a stop at Totem Blight State Park. We saw all the hand-carved totem poles, very neat. Ketchikan itself seemed a little too catered to the cruise market. Of the half dozen stores we walked into, I don't think I saw any merchandise that wasn't sold at the others. 
The next day, the ship stopped in Juneau, the state capital of Alaska. This was probably my favorite port. Here we signed up for a ship excursion that included a 10-mile bike ride to Mendenhall Glacier and then a tour and tasting at Alaskan Brewery.
I had the toughest time with the first couple miles of the ride...until our guide pulled up behind me and pointed out that my back tire was flat! After that, it was smooth sailing. We stopped at a lake that gave a great view of the glacier. Also present there were about 7 or 8 bald eagles. It was really cool until we realized they were all stalking a duck and her ducklings. Suddenly, I was glad I hadn't bought binoculars.
Once we made it to the glacier park, we explored a bit on our own - what a beautiful sight. The brewery tour was also fun...probably because they were so generous with the portion sizes! We were also lucky enough to be in Juneau for Celebration 2008, the biennial dance-and-culture festival for Native Alaskans.
Day five began in Skagway. By this point, we were getting pretty tired. The ship pulled into all the previous ports pretty early in the morning. While we left early too, we stayed up late those nights due to our 8.15 dinner seating, late entertainment shows, and the fact that the sun didn't even set until 11.30 in the evening! Skagway is known as the home of the White Pass Railroad so naturally, we signed up for tickets. They take you up to the Canadian border at Fraser Mountain, then loop you back to town. Since we climbed pretty high, there was a lot of amazing scenery and we even saw a black bear from the train!
Our last port of call was Sitka. Sitka had a heavy Russian influence in the 1800s and the Orthodox Church and Russian Dancers are still big draws. Mark and I took a kayak tour of the Sitka Sound. We saw a lot of beautiful scenery (I know I sound like a broken record, but it really is amazing) and we also saw a half dozen Alaskan kids swimming in the sound. Now, I know it's June, but we were wearing our fleece jackets, zipped all the way up! I guess it's all a matter of perspective.
We had a last day at sea before docking in Anchorage and flying home. On that day, we cruised through College Fjord and stopped to see the Harvard, Yale, Vassar, etc., glaciers.
After about 40 hours off the ship, we were getting ready to head to Milano!
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